UNIVERSITY  OF  ILLINOIS 
LIBRARY 


Class 


Book 


c 

Volume 


FIFTY  YEARS  OF  UNITARIAN  LIFE. 


UNITARIAN   LIFE. 


BEING  A    RECORD 
OF    THE    PROCEEDINGS     ON    THE 

1    OCCASION    OF    THE    FIFTIETH    ANNIVERSARY    OF 
THE    ORGANIZATION     OF     THE     FIRST     UNITARIAN     SOCIETY     OF 
GENEVA,    ILLINOIS,     CELEBRATED    JUNE  TENTH, 
ELEVENTH     AND     TWELFTH, 

1892. 


EDITED   BY 

T.  H.  EDDOWES.  FRANCES  LE  BARON, 
GEORGE  BRAYTON  PENNEY. 


PRINTED  BY  THE 

KANE  COUNTY  PUBLISHING  CO., 

GENEVA,  ILL. 

1892. 


ui 
uj 


I  HE  celebration  of  the  fiftieth  anniversary  of  a 
Unitarian  Society  in  the  West  is  not  an  event 
A      of  such  common  occurrence  that   it  should 
receive    only    passing    notice.     The    moral  and  spiritual 
significance   of  such  an  occasion  comes  with  such  stimu- 
lating force  to  all  who  are  fighting  the  battle  of  freedom 
p£*  for  mind  and  soul,  that  it  has  seemed  to  many  who  were 

present  at  the  semi-centennial  exercises  of  the  Geneva 
Society  that  the  spirit  of  the  occasion  should  be  perpetu- 
$$i  ated  in  some  enduring  form,  and  it  was  in  response  to 
the  expressed  wish  of  members  and  friends  of  the  Society 
that  the  publication  of  this  volume  was  undertaken. 

The  work  has  grown  on  our  hands  and  instead  of 
presenting  a  few  pages  of  matter  of  purely  local  interest 
we  feel  that  in  this  little  volume  we  are  making  a  unique 
contribution  to  the  literature  of  the  denomination,  with  a 
value  far  exceeding  the  limits  of  local  association  and 
personal  reminiscence,  for  in  these  pages  may  be  traced 
the  evolution  of  a  typical  Liberal  Church. 

We  have  been  greatly  aided  in  a  somewhat  difficult 


203101 


viii.  Editor^   Preface. 

task  by  the  friends  who  have  kindly  furnished  and  revised 
manuscripts,  and  especially  are  we  indebted  to  Rev.  W. 
W.  Fenn  of  Chicago  for  the  manuscript  of  his  sermon 
on  "Some  Religious  Changes  in  Fifty  Years"  which 
properly  stands  at  the  opening  of  the  book  and  by  its 
breadth  and  catholicity  interprets  the  spirit  of  the  anni- 
versary occasion.  For  drawings  of  the  church  and  par- 
sonage we.  are  indebted  to  Mr.  S.  Nelson  Abbott  and  to 
Miss  Grace  D.  Long,  both  of  the  Society  and  we  would  also 
acknowledge  the  service  rendered  by  Mr,  Chas.  B.  Mead 
of  the  Kane  County  Publishing  Company,  who  not  only 
took  the  contract  for  the  work  at  a  figure  which  precluded 
profit  but  has  given  his  personal  attention  to  details. 

The  absence  of  some  very  familiar  names  from  the 
Historical  Sketch,  which  will  perhaps  strike  some  readers 
unpleasantly,  was  unavoidable.  The  time  allowed  to  the 
paper  was  limited  and  many  honored  names  were  to 
have  been  mentioned  at  the  afternoon  session  by  a  speak- 
er who  was  at  the  last  moment  prevented  from  attending. 
A  letter  had  also  been  promised  from  Col.  Jno.  C.  Long 
of  Chicago,  touching  upon  the  army  life  of  Mr.  Conant, 
but  owing  to  a  press  of  other  matters  Col.  Long  was  una- 
ble to  furnish  it. 

With  the  large  faith  that  has  made  this  record  possi- 
ble we  give  it  forth  to  the  circle  of  friends  and  relatives 
of  the  Geneva  Society  and  to  the  larger  world  which  it 
may,  perchance,  here  and  there  reach. 

T.  II.  EDDOWES, 
FRANCES  LE!JARON, 
GEORGE  BRAYTON  PENNEY. 

GENEVA,  November,  1892. 


I.  SERMON — Some    Religious    Changes  in  PAGE. 

Fifty  Years,  1 

II.  Order  of  Proceedings,  21 

III.  Address  of  Welcome,      -  22 

IV.  HISTORICAL  SKETCH, 

Organization,  23 

Personal,  -       28 

Church  Building,  39 

Pastorates,  '  ,  -  47 

By  the  Way,  51 

V.  Anniversary  Hymn,  57 

VI.  Character  Sketch  of  the  First  Pastor,  58 

VII.  Dedication  Hymn,  75 

VIII.  Incidents  and  Reminiscences,  -                            76 

IX.  ,  Random  Reminiscences,  84 

X.  Memories  of  Early  Days,  88 

XI.  COLLATION — Responses  and  Letters,  94 

A  Cambrian  Prophet,  95 

A  Man  without  Guile,  96 

Other  Pioneers,  100 


x.  Contents. 

Letter  from  Robert  Collyer,       -  102 

Early  Women,  105 

The  Original  Geneva,   -  106 

Poem— Fifty  Years,  107 

Letter  from  Rev.  Jno.  R.  Effinger,  108 

Letter  from  Prof.  Samuel  Clarke,  109 

CuiBono?  110 

A  Living  Saint,  112 

Response,  113 

Letter  from  Rev.  Chester  Covell,     -  114 

The  Illinois  Conference,  -     114 

Letter  from  Rev.  Jas.  H.  West,  117 

Freedom  of  Thought  and  Speech,  -  120 
Woman's  Relation  to  Religious  Freedom,  122 
The  Literary  Value  of  the  Liberal  Faith,  124 

The  Centennial  Celebration,  125 

XII.  CONGRATULATORY  LETTERS. 

From  Edward  Everett  Hale,  D.  D.  128 

"     Marie  L.  Lamb,  129 

"     Thomas  Moulding,  129 

"      C.  A.  Philips,  130 

"      Hon.  J.  C.  Sherwin,  -  130 

"      Col.  Jno.  S.   Wilcox,       -  -     131 

"      Paul  R.  Wright,  131 

XIII.  Sunday  School  Session,  -    133 

XIV.  Historical  Chapter,  135 

XV.  Sunday  School  Memories,  -     139 

XVI.  The  Parsonage,       -  145 


I.  CHURCH  BUILDING,  Erected  1843,  FRONTISPIECE 

(Drawn  by  S.  Nelson  Abbott.) 

II.  AUGUSTUS  H.  CONANT,  Page    59 

III.  THE  PARSONAGE,  " 

(Drawn  by  Grace  Long.) 


"Love,  labor,  progress! — this  the  constant  story 

That  God  in  Nature  speaks: 
Love,  labor,  progress! — this  the  tireless  glory 

Of  the  Eternal  weeks!" 


'  'SOME  RELIGIOUS  CHANGES  IN  FIFTY  YEARS.  ' '        PREACHED  AT 
THE  OPENING  OF  THE  CELEBRATION,    FRIDAY  EVENING, 
JUNE    10TH,     BY    REV.     W.  W.   FENN, 

Pastor  of  the  oldest  Unitarian  Society  in  Illinois,  the  Church   of 
the  Messiah,  Chicago,  organized  in  1836. 

TEXT:— The  Way  of  the  Lord  is  Strength.      Prov.  10-29. 

)f  MONG  the  most  suggestive  phrases  in  He- 
^C\  brew  literature  are  those  which  imply  that 
£  ^\  —  lu_^  there  is  a  way  of  the  Lord,  that  there 
are  paths  in  which  the  Almighty  walks.  Primitively, 
these  expressions  carried  a  significance  quite  different 
from  that  which  we  find  in  them,  conveying  merely  the 
notion  that  there  were  certain  spots  which  the  Gods  liked 
best  to  frequent;  but  as  under  the  lead  of  the  Prophets 
belief  in  a  purposeful  God  bent  on  righteousness  develop- 
ed among  the  Jews,  "the  way  of  the  Lord"  came  to  have 
an  ethical  import  which  insures  it  a  permanent  place  in 
our  religious  vocabulary.  For  us,  the  way  of  the  Lord  is 
the  path  along  which  humanity,  quickened  and  guided  by 
the  indwelling  God,  has  moved  and  is  moving  towards 
consummate  holiness;  he  is  walking  with  God  who  is  ad- 
vancing toward  the  perfect  manifestation  of  truth  and 


2  Svme  Religious  Changes 

love;  he  is  working  with  God  who  is  striving  to  bring 
men  into  the  realm  of  spiritual  facts  and  under  the  sway 
of  spiritual  forces,  for  thus  God  walks  and  works.  Hence 
it  behooves  us,  individually  and  corporately,  to  "consid- 
er our  ways"  that  we  may  know  whether  they  are  the 
way  of  the  Lord,  whether  our  progress  is  in  the  track  of 
advancing  humanity.  Amid  the  congratulations  and  re- 
joicings of  this  anniversary  occasion,  this  serious  duty 
should  not  be  overlooked,  for  no  greater  blessing  could 
come  to  pastor  and  people  out  of  these  days  of  reminis- 
cence and  communion  than  the  settled  conviction  that 
this  church  in  its  teaching  and  practice  has  been  walking 
with  God.  "The  way  of  the  Lord  is  strength." 

"Thy  way,  O  Lord,  is  in  the  sanctuary."  It  is  in 
the  church,  or  rather  in  the  impalpable  but  very  real 
"Christian  consciousness"  of  the  community,  that  we  may 
seek  most  confidently  arid  find  most  easily  the  course  of 
the  spirit.  Therefore,  complying  with  a  request  from  one 
of  the  members  of  your  Committee,  I  ask  you  to  consid- 
er with  me  this  evening  some  of  the  changes  that  have 
come  over  religious  thought  and  life  during  the  past  half 
century,  that  we  may  discern  if  possible  the  general  di- 
rection of  movement.  To-morrow,  others  shall  speak 
particularly  of  this  church  and  its  history,  but  to-night 
we  are  to  establish  the  criterion  by  which  the  work  of  the 
church  must  be  determined.  Our  duty  to-night  is  to  dis- 
cover if  we'  may  the  way  of  the  Lord,  to-morrow  it  will 
become  apparent,  I  trust,  that  that  has  been  also  the  way 
of  this  church. 

Not  even  the  most  casual  observer  can  fail  to  discern 
a  wide  difference  between  the  church  as  it  is  now  and  the 
church  as  it  was  fifty  years  ago.  Although  one  had 
never  heard  a  sermon  or  been  inside  of  a  church,  he 
might  guess  even  from  the  externals  of  church  architect- 


In  Fifty  Year*.  3 

ure  that  the  uses  of  the  building  had  altered.  Church 
edih'ces  nowadays  are  evidently  designed  to  be  less  formal, 
more  social,  home-like  and  inviting  than  they  were  fifty 
years  ago.  If,  now,  one  compares  the  interiors  of  two 
churches,  one  built  fifty  years  ago  and  the  other  just  com- 
pleted, the  change  is  even  more  apparent.  In  the  one 
case  we  should  probably  find  only  a  large  barren  audience 
room,  while  in  the  other  we  should  certainly  see  parlors 
and  a  kitchen,  possibly  also  a  reading  room  and  a  stage. 
As  Brooke  Herford  has  said,  tjie  proverb  "As  poor  as  a 
church  mouse"  was  coined  before  kitchens  had  become  an 
essential  part  of  church  architecture ;  nowadays  church  mice 
ought  to  be  as  plump  and  sleek  as  old  time  ecclesiastics  con- 
sidering the  debris  after  our  church  festivals  and  fairs. 
And  so  the  interior  of  the  church  deepens  the  impression 
made  by  the  exterior  that  a  change  has  come  over  our  ideas 
as  to  the  function  and  place  of  a  church  in  the  community. 
Then,  even  Sunday  schools  were  not  in  full  favor  and  the 
multifarious  social  activities  of  the  modern  church  had  not 
come  into  mind.  Similarly,  we  may  see  how  the  place 
which  a  preacher  is  expected  to  occupy  in  a  church  has  un- 
dergone marked  alteration.  Instead  of  a  box-like,  gloomy 
pulpit,  stilted  way  above  the  heads  of  the  congregation, 
there  is  now  only  a  low  platform  with  modest  reading  desk. 
The  preacher  of  to-day  must  show  the  iron  and  clay  of  his 
makeup  as  well  as  the  head  of  gold  and  shoulders  of  silver 
which  formerly  were  alone  visible  over  the  enclosing  and 
concealing  pulpit.  The  Scripture  reads  "I  will  lift  up 
mine  eyes  unto  the  hills  whence  cometh  my  help" — not,  I 
will  lift  up  mine  eyes  unto  the  pulpit.  In  many  a  country 
church  the  Scripture  used  to  be  literally  fulfilled  when  the 
youngsters,  and  some  of  the  older  folk,  too,  turning  away 
from  .  the  preacher  droning  away  overhead,  looked  up 
through  the  unshaded,  small-paned  windows  to  the  distant 


4  Some  Religious  Change* 

hills  and  drew  from  that  quiet  vision  of  beauty  help  which 
the  pulpit  denied  them.  One  can  not  repress  a  suspicion 
that  much  of  the  stiff-neckedness  for  which  our  ancestors 
are  sometimes  blamed,  and  deservedly,  perhaps,  may  be 
traced  to  those  high  pulpits  which  obliged  them  to  hold 
their  heads  in  tilted  constraint  during  interminable  sermons, 
till  it  is  no  wonder  they  got  a  permanent  crick  in  the  neck 
because  of  it.  And  who  can  blame  them  for  being  straight- 
backed  considering  the  pews  they  had  to  sit  in.  The  de- 
cadence of  the  skyey  pulpit  signifies  that  the  preacher  no 
longer  speaks  as  from  some  inaccessible  height  of  wisdom 
and  sanctity  which  his  people  cannot  hope  to  attain,  but 
from  their  level;  he  no  longer  thinks  of  "preaching  down" 
to  his  congregation. 

In  one  of  Homer  Wilbur's  screeds  prefixed  to  the 
Bigelow  Papers  Lowell  suggests  that  the  visual  angle 
made  by  a  ray  of  light  coming  from  a  high  pulpit  to  the 
eye  of  an  auditor  is  such  as  to  induce  somnolence.  The  real 
reason,  however,  why  people  go  to  sleep  in  church  is  be- 
cause they  have  no  vital  interest  in  what  the  preacher  is 
saying;  yet  perhaps  this  real  reason  is  not  unconnected 
with  the  fanciful  one  proposed  by  the  erudite  pastor  of 
Jaalam,  for  when  a  preacher  draws  near  to  his  congre- 
gation and  preaches  to  them  eye  to  eye,  it  is  inevitable 
that  he  should  be  led  to  speak  of  subjects  in  which  they 
are  interested  and  in  a  style  which  carries  home.  One  se- 
cret of  the  effectiveness  of  the  best  modern  preaching  is 
that  the  preacher  has  got  near  enough  to  his  people  to 
"see  the  whites  of  their  eyes."  The  speech  of  the  street 
is  becoming  the  speech  of  the  pulpit  that  the  thought  of 
the  pulpit  may  more  promptly  become  the  thought  of  the 
street.  If  a  preacher  to-day  is  so  old-fashioned  as  to  say 
—  "My  hearers" — the  probability  is  that  he  might  more 
truthfully  say — "My  slumberers;"  they  are  absent-minded 


///  Fifty  Years.  5 

if  not  absent-bodied.  The  thought  of  the  pulpit  is  cast 
in  a  style  vital  and  not  conventional,  real  and  not  formal, 
suggestive  rather  than  authoritative,  And  this  implies  that 
the  thought  of  the  pulpit  is  not  quite  what  it  used  to  be. 
Topics  that  were  once  the  staple  of  pulpit  discourse  are 
now  rarely  alluded  to  Your  pastor  is  not  half  so  much 
interested  in  the  past  of  Israel  as  he  is  in  the  future  of 
America;  he  deems  it  far  less  important  to  show  that  God 
could  harden  Pharaoh's  heart  and  still  be  just  and  loving 
than  to  thunder  into  the  ears  of  modern  Pharaohs  of  lust  and 
greed — "Let  my  people  go;"  he  is  not  so  firmly  convinced 
that  Jonah  could  live  in  the  whale's  belly,  as  he  is  deter- 
mined that  present-day  children  of  God  shall  not  live  in 
vile  tenement  houses;  he  will  not  seek  to  convince  you  that 
Baalam's  ass  spoke  to  the  ancient  prophet,  but  he  will 
seek  to  open  your  ears  to  the  appeal  of  the  entire  brute 
creation  for  sympathetic  protection  and  kindness.  The 
ideal  of  the  modern  sermon  is  perfectly  given  by  Pres. 
Hyde  of  Bowdoin  College  in  the  current  Forum.  "A 
young  preacher,"  he  says,  "once  read  me  a  sermon  filled 
from  beginning  to  end  with  abstract  propositions  about 
the  proper  relation  of  the  soul  to  its  maker.  When  he 
had  finished,  I  said  to  him,  that  is  a  first  rate  sermon  of 
its  kind,  but  for  every  sermon  of  this  kind,  you  ought  to 
write  one  of  the  other  kkid.  'What  other  kind  ?'  he  asked. 
Why,  I  said,  this  is  all  about  the  way  to  save  a  soul. 
The  other  kind  of  sermon  should  show  what  use  to  make 
of  the  soul  after  it  is  saved;  how  the  saved  soul  should 
behave  in  the  home;  how  it  should  do  business:  how  it 
can  make  the  community  happier  and  better;  how  to  ful- 
fill the  duties  of  husband  or  wife,  of  father  or  son,  of 
neighbor  or  friend,  of  workman  or  employer,  of  owner  of 
wealth,  of  holder  of  office,  of  citizen  or  patriot."  That 
"other  kind"  of  sermon  is  indeed  almost  the  only  kind 


6  Some  Religious 

that  is  preached  in  the  foremost  pulpits  of  America  to-day 
and  I  hope  it  will  not  be  declared  fanciful  if  I  suggest 
that  nothing  else  could  ever  be  preached,  except  from  a 
pulpit  far  removed  from  a  congregation.  The  change 
from  pulpit  to  reading  desks  marks  a  change  in  the  quali- 
ty of  sermons.  A  sermon  can  no  longer  be  a  narrow, 
shallow  rivulet  of  an  idea  meandering  aimlessly  through 
flowery  meads  of  rhetoric,  it  must  be  a  mountain  brook 
of  fresh  thought  directed  to  the  doing  of  the  world's 
work.  When  the  preacher  came  down  from  his  factitious 
elevation  to  the  level  of  his  fellows,  pulpit  utterances  ac- 
quired the  human  touch,  became  practical,  clear,  direct, 
and  couched  in  the  ordinary  speech  of  men. 

So  much,  then,  for  superficial  change  in  the  religious 
life  of  the  past  half  century  as  revealed  in  church  archi- 
tecture and  pulpit  utterances,  and  now  we  must  ask 
whether  these  are  merely  superficial  or  indicative  of  pro- 
found modifications  in  thought  and  sentiment.  It  occa- 
sionally happens  that  doctrines  lapse  for  a  time,  which, 
nevertheless,  are  still  an  integral  part  of  the  prevailing 
system  and  only  await  an  opportune  moment  for  reap- 
pearance. During  such  periods,  it  may  seem  as  if  the 
beliefs  in  question  were  no  longer  held,  whereas  in  reality 
they  still  belong  to  the  current  theology  and  are  only  in 
abeyance.  Consequently  what  pass  at  face  value  for  great 
religious  reformations  are  often  only  shiftings  of  emphasis, 
while  the  structure  of  doctrine  or  polity  remains  the  same. 
At  the  present  time,  for  instance,  in  the  so-called  Evan- 
gelical churches,  a  prominence  is  given  the  humanity  of 
Jesus  which  once  would  have  been  deemed  subversive 
and  dangerous,  nevertheless  the  doctrine  of  his  deity  is  by 
no  means  denied  but  is  in  fact  constantly  assumed.  Are 
the  changes  which  we  have  already  mentioned  and  others 
which  doubtless  have  occurred  to  you,  changes  of  this 


In  Fifty  Year*.  7 

•  sort  or  are  they  evidences  of  real  growth  and  progress? 

One  who  compares  carefully  and  candidly  the  Ortho- 

•doxy  of  to-day  with  that  of  fifty  years  ago,  as  represented 

by  its  leading  exponents  then  and  now,  will  have  to  con- 

•  elude  not  only  that  there  is  hardly  a  single  doctrine  which 
has    escaped  alteration,   but  that  there  has  been  a  radical 
arid  all  important  change  in  the  point  of  view  and  method 

•of  approach.      For  the  sake  of  illustration,   let  us  refer 
briefly  to  four  leading  doctrines  of  Orthodoxy — its  thought 
'concerning  the  Bible,  man,  salvation  and  God. 

1st.  The  Authority  of  Scripture.  It  was  Chilling- 
worth  who  said — "-The  Bible  and  the  Bible  only  is  the 
religion  of  Protestants."  The  testimony  of  the  Bible 
was  decisive  and  its  judgment  final.  Theological  disputes 
turned  upon  the  interpretations  of  texts  whose  infallibil- 
ity, when  their  meaning  was  ascertained,  neither  party 
questioned.  But  the  leading  Evangelicals  to-day,  men 
like  Briggs,  Gladden,  Abbott  and  Ladd,  have  entirely 
abandoned  the  claim  of  Biblical  infallibility,  while  Prof. 
Ladd  of  Yale  College,  in  setting  up  the  "Christian  con- 
sciousness'1 as  the  ultimate  criterion,  seems  to  have  re- 
'  verted  substantially  to  the  Roman  Catholic  view.  Preach- 
ers and  theologians  are  not  content  with  proving  that  a 
doctrine  is  Biblical,  they  deem  it  incumbent  upon  them 
also  to  show  that  it  is  rational  or  at  least  not  irrational. 
Nor  is  this  position  maintained  only  by  a  few  heretics  in 
Orthodox  circles,  who  are  called  leaders  merely  because 
they  happen  to  be  conspicuous  by  reason  of  their  heresy. 
That  they  fairly  represent  the  acting  opinion  of  the  rank 
and  file  appears  from  the  treatment  that  has  been  accorded 
the  Revised  Version  of  the  Bible.  Let  me  recall  a  few 
•of  the  changes  in  the  New  Testament  alone. 

The  favorite  and  only  decisive  proof  text  for  the  doctrine 
<of   the    Trinity — that  concerning  the  three  Witnesses — has 


8  Some  Religious  Changes 

dropped  away  without  even  a  note  of  explanation  or 
apology,  and  doubt  has  been  thrown  upon  "the  church  of 
God  which  he  purchased  with  his  own  blood,"  as  well  as 
upon  the  identification  of  Jesus  with  God  in  the  doxology 
in  Komans.  On  the  other  hand,  the  personalty  of  the 
Devil  is  recognized  in  the  Lord's  prayer  and  it  is  intima- 
ted in  John  1,  18  that  Jesus  is  called  "God  only  be- 
gotten." Such  changes,  and  these  are  but  samples, 
would  have  been  greeted  with  mingled  glee  and  acrimony 
a  half  century  ago;  as  it  is,  they  have  been  given  hardly 
a  passing  thought.  There  can  be  no  question,  I  suppose, 
that  the  movement  in  Orthodoxy  is  toward  viewing  the 
Bible  as  literature,  open  to  correction  and  amendment  and 
by  no  means  as  infallible,  or  even  final  authority.  And 
if  reason  is  to  be  applied  to  the  Biblical  records,  the  out- 
come is  not  doubtful.  As  the  testimony  of  Genesis  with 
relation  to  the  six  days  creation  is  no  longer  allowed  to 
invalidate  the  witness  of  Geology,  so  the  record  of  the 
miraculous  birth  of  Jesus  will  soon  cease  to  be  of  suffici- 
ent authority  to  overthrow  the  presuppositions  of  experi- 
ence and  the  contradictory  hints  elsewhere  in  the  Gospels 
and  Epistles.  One  is  tempted  to  dwell  long  upon  this 
changed  attitude  towards  the  Bible  because  of  its  immense 
significance,  but  time  forbids.  Let  me  quote,  however, 
a  single  passage  from  an  unimpeachable  authority — Prof. 
J.  Henry  Thayer,  Prof,  of  N.  T.  Greek  in  Harvard  Uni- 
versity, whose  judgment  has  weight,  not  only  from  his 
ripe  and  accurate  scholarship,  but  also  because  he  is  an  Or- 
thodox in  conviction  as  well  as  in  ecclesiastical  standing: 
"The  critics  are  agreed,"  he  says,  "that  the  view  of  the 
Scripture  in  which  you  and  I  were  educated,  the  view  that 
has  been  prevalent  here  in  New  England  for  centuries  is 
untenable."  The  critics  have  found  it  so,  the  people  feel 
it  so;  silently  the  change  has  come,  no  book  or  preacher 


1-n  Fifty  Yearn.  9 

has  wrought  it,  but  it  has  come  and  its  influence  upon  our 
religious  thinking  is  well-nigh  incalculable. 

2nd.  The  Doctrine  of  Man.  Along  with  the  crumb- 
ling belief  in  Biblical  infallibility  has  gone  a  change  in  the 
thought  of  man,  for  concerning  the  creation  and  primitive 
condition  of  man  the  teachings  of  the  Old  Testament  and 
of  modern  investigation  are  irreconcilably  at  variance. 
It  is  taught  in  the  Bible  that  man  was  brought  into  being 
by  a  special  creative  act  of  God;  that  he  was  created  holy, 
but  by  one  act  of  disobedience  lost  that  holiness  and  passed 
into  a  state  of  alienation  from  God,  of  which  physical 
death  is  the  token,  in  which  all  his  descendants  were  in- 
volved. Upon  this  Biblical  preaching  rest  the  Evangeli- 
cal doctrines  of  the  fall  of  man  and  his  consequent  inabil- 
ity to  think  truly  or  act  rightly  until  after  he  has  been  re- 
generated by  the  Spirit.  As  logical  inferences  came  the 
belief  that  revelation  and  salvation  must  come  from  with- 
out as  gifts  to  an  unworthy  race  and  not  from  within  as 
finest  fruits  of  a  perfecting  humanity,  and  the  pernicious 
notion  that  since  the  truth  of  God  was  alien  to  the  nature 
of  unregenerate  man,  the  "carnal  reason"  was  utterly  in- 
competent as  a  test  of  truth.  ' '  Credo  quia  impossibile, ' '  I 
believe  because  it  is  impossible.  The  more  monstrous 
what  passed  for  revealed  truth  seemed  to  the  natural  in- 
stincts of  man,  the  more  depraved  those  instincts  were 
thereby  shown  to  be. 

On  the  other  hand,  competent  scholars  tell  us  now 
that  man  is  the  consummate  product  of  along  development 
through  the  animal  world,  that  his  noblest  powers  so  far 
from  being  decaying  relics  of  a  purer  past,  are  bright- 
ening prophecies  of  a  glorious  future.  I  need  not  linger 
here  to  point  out  how  this  thought  of  man  introduces  a 
totally  new  point  of  view  and  requires  a  totally  different 
method  of  approach  in  our  religious  thinking,  but  I  would 


10  .  Some  Religious  Changes 

assure  you  that  this  new  thought  of  man  of  which  I  have 
been  speaking  is  not  the  whimsey  of  a  few  disgruntled 
"scientists"  animated  by  "hostility"  to  the  Bible  and  the 
church,  but  is  the  deliberate  conclusion  of  every  living 
student  of  nature,  qualified  to  have  any  opinion  at  all  up- 
on the  subject.  In  the  "New  World"  for  June  I  find  this 
sentence  in  an  article  by  Minot  Savage: — "In  a  private 
letter  to  myself ,  dated  Oct.  29,  1890,  Mr.  John  Fiske 
writes,  'I  do  not  know  of  any  living  scientific  man  of  any 
account  opposed  to  Darwinism  as  a  whole,  though  of  course 
there  is,  as  there  ought  to  be,  much  diversity  as  to  subsidi- 
ary questions. ';  Quite  apart,  however,  from  scholarly 
research  and  opinion,  the  old  belief  about  man  has  been 
practically  disowned,  as  Dr.  Hale  has  shown,  by  our  prac- 
tice in  citizenship  and  education.  As  the  foliage  on  the 
branches  of  a  tree  keeps  green  long  after  the  tree  itself  has 
been  girdled,  so  some  of  the  inferences  from  this  discredi- 
ted theory  still  persist,  though  their  real  vitality  is  gone. 
Here  again  as  in  the  case  of  beliefs  concerning  the  Bible, 
the  change  is  due  not  So  much  to  the  publication  of  any 
epoch-making  book,  whether  Spencer's  "First  Principles" 
or  Darwin's  "Origin  of  Species,"  as  to  the  gradual  and 
imperceptible  transformation  of  popular  sentiment.  But 
the  change  has  undeniably  come  and  its  effect  upon  our  re- 
ligious life  is  central  and  far-reaching. 

3rd.  The  Doctrine  of  Salvation.  Hitherto  we  have 
considered  doctrines  which  may  be  classed  as  speculative 
and  which,  while  they  affect  vitally  the  thought  of  the 
church,  may  have  nothing  to  do  with  its  practical  work, 
but  in  the  doctrine  of  salvation  we  pass  directly  from 
theory  to  practice,  for  from  the  beginning  until  now  the 
church  has  felt  the  salvation  of  men  to  be  its  distinguish- 
ing function.  If,  therefore,  the  conception  of  salvation 
changes,  the  activities  of  the  church  must  pass  through  a 


In  Fifty  Year*.  11 

corresponding  modification.  When  man  was  believed  to 
be  in  a  state  of  alienation  from  God  because  of  Adam's 
transgression,  and  the  work  of  the  church  was  to  bring  man 
and  God  into  a  state  of  reconciliation,  the  idea  of  salvation 
was  mechanical  and  the  method,  by  the  vicarious  atone- 
ment, was  also  formal.  But  with  the  incoming  of  the 
new  thought  of  man,  the  idea  of  salvation  has  become 
'vital.  Salvation  requires  not  change  of  state,  but  change  of 
character.  Sin  is  not  so  much  an  insult  to  God  as  a  wrong 
done  one's  own  nature.  Hence  forgiveness  of  sins  cannot 
be  a  merely  judicial  act,  it  must  be  the  restoration  of  the 
spirit  and  temper  lost  in  transgression.  Hence  it  would 
hardly  be  said  now  that  a  man's  morality  or  immorality 
has  nothing  to  do  with  his  salvation.  On  the  ,  contrary  it 
is  generally  held  that,  to  quote  a  famous  Orthodox  clergy- 
man, "righteousness  is  salvation."  From  every  quarter 
comes  the  demand  for  character  and  not  creed.  Even 
staunch  Evangelicals  will  say  sometimes  of  a  man — "He's 
a  good  Christian,"  —thinking  simply  of  his  conduct  and 
not  at  all  of  his  theology.  Where  the  uncouth  Evangelist 
from  Georgia  cries  "Quit  your  meanness"  he  is  at  one 
with  the  gentle  Quaker  poet,  who  sings — 

''To  be  saved  is  only  this, 
Salvation  from  our  selfishness." 

Consequently  the  way  of  salvation  is  not  now  presented  as 
of  old.  That  Jesus  suffered  upon  the  cross  the  agonies 
that  the  elect  wouid  have  suffered,  but  for  him,  through 
the  unending  aeons  of  hell  seems  a  belief  too  mon- 
strous to  be  entertained  for  a  moment,  yet  it  was  taught 
once.  But  that  vulgar  commercialism  has  gone  forever. 
That  death  scene  on  Calvary,  we  are  told  by  Orthodox 
preachers,  was  designed  to  melt  the  heart  of  man,  not  to 
appease  the  wrath  of  God;  it  was  a  matchless  setting  forth 
of  God's  love  of  man  and  hate  of  sin.  The  death  of 


12  Some  Religious  Changes 

Christ  avails  for  our  salvation  only  as  it  leads  us  to  a  like 
self-sacrifice.  Identification  instead  of  substitution  is  now 
the  word  and  we  hear  of  imparted  instead  of  imputed 
righteousness.  And  as  the  ideas  of  the  nature  of  the  way 
of  salvation  have  altered,  there  have  come  glimmerings 
of  the  revolutionary  thought  that  the  work  of  the  church 
is  the  education  of  the  sons  of  God  and  not  the  conver- 
sion of  sons  of  the  Devil. 

4th.  The  thought  of  God.  That  the  old  teaching 
concerning  the  method  of  salvation  seems  repulsive  to  us 
nowadays  is  mainly,  I  fancy,  because  of  the  thought  of 
God  that  lay  back  of  it.  God,  the  Father,  seemed  to  be 
full  of  wrath,  a  Shylock  bound  to  have  the  full  measure  of 
his  bond,  if  not  from  the  man  who  had  sinned,  then  from 
an  innocent  and  august  substitute.  Wrath  seemed  to  be 
embodied  in  the  Father,  mercy  and  tenderness  in  the  Son. 
Men  shuddered  as  they  repeated  "It  is  a  fearful  thing  to  fall 
into  the  hands  of  the  living  God, "  apparently  quite  unmind- 
ful that  the  Hebrew,  living  before  the  revelation  of  God  in 
the  face  of  Jesus,  had  prayed  "Let  me  fall  into  the  hands  of 
God  and  not  into  the  hands  of  man."  But  now  God  is 
drawing  ever  nearer  to  the  world  in  love,  and  the  loving 
Father,  who  welcomes  every  returning  prodigal  with  ten- 
derness eternal,  is  becoming  the  God  of  Christendom. 
Nowhere  is  the  change  more  manifest  than  in  the  hymns 
of  the  church. 

Merely  for  the  sake  of  illustration,  let  me  read  you 
two  hymns  found  in  psalmodies  that  were  in  vogue  fifty 
years  ago  and  contrast  them  with  two  hymns  taken  from 
a  modern  collection.  That  the  older  hymns  are  revolting 
to  the  staunchest  Orthodoxy  of  to-day,  I  am  perfectly  well 
aware  as  well  as  that  it  would  be  easy  to  find  other  hymns 
of  the  same  period  which  breathe  in  lofty  strains  the  no- 
blest ideas  of  God.  Yet  the  thought  of  God  presented  in 


In  Fifty  Years.  13 

these  hymns  was  held  and  taught  to  the  horror  of  many 
souls.  It  is  with  no  design  of  ridiculing  the  faith  of  the 
past,  but  with  profound  pity  for  those  whose  lives  were 
overshadowed  by  such  frightful  fears,  and  with  deep 
gratitude  that  nearly  all  churches  have  awakened  from 
such  horrible  dreams  to  more  trustful  thoughts  of  God, 
that  I  read  two  hymns  by  Watts  with  which  many  of  you 
must  be  already  familiar: 

"My  thoughts  on  awful  subjects  roll, 

Damnation  and  the  dead; 
What  horrors  seize  the  guilty  soul 

Upon  a  dying  bed! 

Then  swift  and  dreadful  she  descends 

Down  to  the  fiery  coast, 
Amongst  abominable  fiends; 

Herself  a  frighted  ghost. 

There  endless  crowds  of  sinners  lie, 

And  darkness  makes  their  chains; 
Tortured  with  keen  despair,  they  cry, 

Yet  wait  for  fiercer  pains." 

Compare,    or    rather  contrast,  with  this    Anna  War- 
ing's  beautiful  hymn— 

"Go  not  far  from  me,  O  my  God, 

Whom  all  my  times  obey; 
Take  from  me  anything  thou  wilt, 

But  go  not  thou  away, — 
And  let  the  storm  that  does  thy  work 

Deal  with  me  as  it  may! 

On  thy  compassion  I  repose 

In  weakness  and  distress; 
I  will  not  ask  for  greater  ease, 

Lest  I  should  love  thee  less. 
Oh,  'tis  a  blessed  thing  for  me 

To  need  thy  tenderness! 

When  I  am  feeble  as  a  child, 

And  flesh  and  heart  give  way, 
Then  on  thy  everlasting  strength 

With  passive  trust  I  stay, — 
And  the  rough  wind  becomes  a  song, 

The  darkness  shines  like  day. 


14  Some  Religious  Changes 

Deep  unto  deep  may  call,  but  I 

With  peaceful  heart  can  say, 
Thy  loving  kindness  hath  a  charge 

No  waves  can  take  away; 
Then  let  the  storm  that  speeds  me  home 

Deal  with  me  as  it  may!" 

One  dreads  to  turn  from  this  lyric  strain  of  trust  and 
hope  to  read  another  hymn  by  Watts  which  as  I  have  been 
credibly  informed  was  actually  sung  by  Evangelical  con- 
gregations fifty  years  ago. 

"Far  in  the  deep,  where  darkness  dwells, 

The  land  of  horror  and  despair, 
Justice  has  built  a  dismal  hell 

And  laid  her  stores  of  vengance  there. 

Eternal  plagues  and  heavy  chains, 

Tormenting  racks  and  fiery  coals, 
And  darts  t'  inflict  immortal  pains 

Dyed  in  the  blood  of  damned  souls. 

There  Satan  the  first  sinner  lies 

And  roars  and  bites  his  iron  bands, 
In  vain  the  rebel  strives  to  rise 

Crushed  with  the  weight  of  both  thy  hands. 

There  guilty  gh'osts  of  Adam's  race 
Shriek  out  and  howl  beneath  thy  rod; 

Once  they  could  scorn  a  Savior's  grace 
But  they  incensed  a  dreadful  God. 

Tremble  my  soul  and  kiss  the  Son! 

Sinner,  obey  thy  Savior's  call; 
Else  your  damnation  hastens  on 

And  hell  gapes  wide  to  wait  your  fall." 

With  the  thought  of  God  and  the  future  thought  in 
this  hymn,  what  can  offer  more  significant  contrast  than 
Chad  wick's  beautiful  song: 

"It  singe th  low  in  every  heart, 

We  hear  it  each  and  all, — 
A  song  of  those  who  answer  not, 

However  we  may  call. 


In  Fifty  Yearn.  15 

They  throng  the  silence  of  the  breast; 

We  see  them  as  of  yore, — 
The  kind,  the  true,  the  brave,  the  sweet, 

Who  walk  with  us  no  more. 

'Tis  hard  to  take  the  burden  up, 

When  these  have  laid  it  down: 
They  brightened  all  the  joj>  of  life, 

They  softened  every  frown. 
But,  oh!  'tis  good  to  think  of  them 

When  we  are  troubled  sore; 
Thanks  be  to  God  that  such  have  been, 

Although  they  are  no  more! 

More  homelike  seems  the  vast  unknown, 

Since  they  have  entered  there; 
To  follow  them  were  not  so  hard, 

Wherever  they  may  fare. 
They  cannot  be  where  God  is  not, 

On  any  sea  or  shore; 
Whate'er  betides,  thy  love  abides, 

Our  God  for  evermore!" 

Thanks  be  to  God  that  out  of  the  flame  shot  shadows 
of  Hell  the  world  has  emerged  upon  the  gentle  slope  that 
leads  to  the  light  that  crowns  with  ineffable  radiance  the 
home-land  of  the  soul.  Thank  God  that  the  "awful  rose 
of  dawn"  now  touches  with  celestial  beauty  the  limit 
which  all  our  feet  must  over-pass,  where  hung  once  cur- 
taining storm  clouds  of  wrath  eternal.  Henceforth  let 
none  step  into  the  unknown  with  fear,  since  we  have 
learned  to  trust  there  as  well  as  here  the  love  from  which 
not  even  our  sins  can  permanently  separate  us.  "Help 
for  the  living  and  hope  for  the  dead"  is  the  word  of  the 
modern  church  because  we  have  learned  of  God,  who 
worketh  unceasingly  and  forever  that  he  may  bring  love 
to  perfect  manifestation. 

From  our  consideration  of  the  doctrines  formerly 
held  and  those  which  now  prevail  in  Orthodox  circles  con- 
cerning the  Bible,  man,  salvation  and  God,  it  appears  un- 
mistakably that  the  superficial  changes  which  we  notice 


16  Soifie  Religious  Changes 

at  the  outset  are  not  accidental  but  symptomatic.  They 
are  outcrops  and  not  boulders.  That  aloofness  of  relig- 
ion from  the  rest  of  life  which  we  saw  expressed  in  church 
architecture  and  in  the  ideal  of  church  and  minister,  found 
its  inner  correspondence  in  doctrines  which  vanished  the 
instant  that  a  demand  for  unity  penetrated  religious 
thinking.  The  doctrines  to  which  we  have  referred  were 
tenable  only  because  they  were  deemed  so  sacred  as  to  be 
beyond  the  scope  of  criticism.  The  feeling  for  unity 
would  brook  no  contradictions  in  the  nature  of  God;  his 
wrath  and  his  love  must  be  one;  his  revelation  in  the 
world  could  not  contradict  his  revelation  in  the  Bible ;  if 
man  was  able  to  discern  the  truth  of  God  as  revealed-in  Na- 
ture, he  was  able  also  to  discern  God  in  the.  more  immedi- 
ate workings  of  the  Spirit.  All  the  changes  that  have  come 
in  Theology  are  traceable  to  the  growing  conviction  that 
God  is  one,  that  the  world  is  one  because  the  expression 
and  revelation  of  God,  that  man  is  one  because  he  is  of 
the  world  and  only  a  more  perfect  manifestation  of  the 
Divine  unity.  If  this  interpretation  of  religious  changes 
is  correct,  we  shall  expect  to  find  two  things:  first,  that 
the  world  has  been  growing  more  religious,  for  the  de- 
mand for  unity  is  only  another  name  for  the  conscious- 
ness of  God;  and,  secondly,  that  the  changes  in  other  de- 
partments of  life  are  traceable  to  the  same  source,  for  re- 
ligion is  only  one  phase  of  man's  mentality  and  shares 
his  intellectual  fortunes.  As  regards  the  first,  it  is  note- 
worthy that  the  changes  which  have  been  mentioned  have 
come  from  within  the  church  and  not  from  without  it. 
The  new  thought  of  the  Bible,  for  instance,  has  been 
reached  by  men  intent  only  upon  the  truth,  men,  for  the 
most  part,  whose  fine  religious  feeling  is  apparent  on 
every  page  of  their  writings.  No  one  can  doubt  that  the 
new  ideas  are  more  purely  and  deeply  religious  than  the 


In  Fifty  Years. '  17 

old.  Never  was  there  more  devotion  to  high  ideals  than 
now,  never  was  there  truer,  more  searching  or  self-sacri- 
ficing love  of  man  than  now,  never  was  the  trust  in  the 
eternal  goodness  more  wide  and  firm,  never,  in  a  word, 
was  the  world  more  religious  than  it  is  to-day.  Indubit- 
ably the  movement  has  been  not  a  human  drifting  into 
evil,  but  a  divine  steering  towards  goodness.  And  the 
religious  movement  is  but  one  embodiment  of  that  mag- 
nificent inflow  of  the  consciousness  and  craving  for  unity, 
which  will  make  our  generation  memorable  forever.  In 
the  arts,  all  our  inventions  and  discoveries  have  tended 
to  bring  men  together.  The  railroad,  the  steam-boat,  the 
telegraph  annihilate  separating  space.  That  Joshua  made 
the  sun  stand  still  upon  Gibeon  seems  trifling  compared 
with  modern  achievements:  we  make  the  sun  stand  still, 
yes  even  go  back  on  the  dial,  over  our  thought  entrusted 
to  electricity,  and  perhaps  it  may  stand  still  sometime,  in 
like  manner,  over  our  bodies  as  we  travel  from  East  to 
West.  This  has  become  a  very  small  world  within  fifty 
years  and  all  men  are  next  door  neighbors.  Aided  possi- 
bly by  the  mechanical  unifying,  the  idea  of  unity  prevails 
in  industry  and  in  the  theories  of  government.  As  co- 
operation is  the  rule  in  manufacturing,  so  that  no 
man  worketh  for  himself  and  no  man  idleth  to 
himself,  making  the  factory  the  unit  with  the  sev- 
eral workmen  as  constituent  cells,  so  in  government  the 
nation  and  not  the  individual  is  gaining  recognition  as  the 
ultimate  unit.  In  this  country  two  theories  of  government 
have  prevailed,  one  conceiving  the  nation,  the  other  the 
individual  state  as  unit,  and  it  was  no  accident,  but  an  in- 
evitable incident  in  a  great  world  process  that  the  two 
theories  joined  battle  in  our  civil  war  and  that  the  nation- 
al idea  was  victorious.  We  shall  learn  sometime  to  ex- 
tend our  national  idea  until  it  becomes  international,  ac- 


18  Some  Religiwm  Changes 

knowledging  in  practice  as  in  theory  the  brotherhood  of 
man.  Towards  that,  the  Spirit  of  God  manifested  in  the 
craving  for  unity,  is  now  tending;  ethical  systems  are  bas- 
ed upon  it,  socialism  asserts  it.  In  sociology  the  unitary 
idea  is  supreme.  Of  course,  it  would  be  needless  to 
prove  that  it  lords  it  in  science  likewise.  The  unity  of 
force  is  a  fundamental  tenet  of  modern  science.  And  if 
force  is  one,  it  acts  according  to  like  laws  in  all  spheres  of 
its  operation.  Hence  the  unity  of  law  is  a  necessary  cor- 
ollary to  the  unity  of  force.  "The  hot  vapors  of  hydro- 
gen aud  calcium  on  the  surface  of  the  sun"  obey  the  same 
laws  as  the  cyclone  that  sweeps  over  our  Western  prairies. 
Man  is  no  longer,  as  of  old,  separated  from  the  rest  of 
nature  by  an  unbridged  gulf.  We  are  living  in  a  universe. 
Thus  everywhere,  the  last  fifty  years  have  been  signalized 
by  an  increasing  demand  for  unity  which  has  appeared  in 
the  church  also.  This,  then,  is  the  way  of  the  Lord,  this 
has  been  the  course  of  the  spirit,  and  every  church,  to  the 
degree  that  it  has  been  the  herald  and  prophet  of  that 
unity,  has  been  in  the  way  of  the  Lord,  wherein  lies  its 
strength. 

While  the  whole  church  has  responded  to  the  new 
voice  of  the  Spirit  and  has  moved  forward  in  the  way  of 
its  directing,  we  may  well  be  proud  that  the  part  of  the 
church  universal  to  which  we  belong  has  been  in  the  van 
of  the  movement.  Fifty  years  ago,  Channing  died. 
Guided  by  the  spirit,  he  had  seen  and  taught  the  unity  of 
God  and  the  dignity  of  man  as  a  child  of  God,  and  hence 
able  to  discover  and  know  the  truth  of  God.  All  our 
early  Unitarian  thought  rested  upon  those  fundamental 
beliefs.  But  our  perception  of  unity  was,  as  yet,  incom- 
plete. Somewhat  over  fifty  years  ago,  in  a  sermon  before 
the  graduating  class  of  Harvard  Divinity  school,  Dr.  A. 
P.  Peabody  explicitely  refused  the  title  Christian  Minis- 


lii  Fifty  Yearn.  19 

ter  to  anyone  who  denied  the  trustworthiness  of  the  Gospel 
account  of  the  miracles  of  Jesus,  and  Charles  Lowe,  while 
student  in  the  Divinity  school,  testified  in  his  private  diary 
to  his  horror  and  apprehension  when  his  Professor,  Dr. 
Noyes,  threw  doubt  upon  the  reality  of  the  Deluge.  The 
Bible  was  still  regarded  as  final  and  supreme  authority. 
But  even  before  Charming  died,  signs  of  the  new  day  ap- 
peared. Two  of  the  rosy  fingers  of  dawn  were  Emerson's 
Divinity  school  address  in  1838  and  Theodore  Parker's 
South  Boston  sermon  in  1841.  These  men,  although 
disowned  by  the  Unitarians  of  their  time,  were  prophets 
of  a  more  perfect  realization  of  unity  in  religion,  and*  in 
their  inspiration  and  along  the  paths  which  they  indicated, 
our  church  has  followed  the  lead  of  the  spirit  still  in  the 
van  of  advancing  Christendom,  proclaiming  with  growing 
clearness  and  strength  — 

"That  God,  which  ever  lives  and  loves, 

One  God,  one  law,  one  element, 
And  one  far-off  divine  event 

To  which  the  whole  creation  moves." 

"The  way  of  the  Lord  is  strength."  As  a  denomi- 
nation, we  are  few  in  numbers  and  weak  in  influence,  but 
our  strength  lies  in  the  fact  that  we  are  in  the  way  of  the 
Lord,  heralds  of  the  unity  of  the  world  in  the  love  eternal. 
If  we  ever  fear  for  our  denominational  future,  that  fear  is 
only  the  obverse  of  our  absolute  trust  in  our  principles 
and  our  perfect  faith  in  the  inspiration  of  the  church  uni- 
versal as  the  leader  of  humanity.  Would  to  God  that 
our  mission  as  a  separate  body  of  the  Church  of  God 
might  speedily  terminate.  Would  that  our  sister  churches 
dared  put  more  trust  in  God  and  commit  themselves  fully 
to  the  guidance  of  the  Spirit.  Meanwhile  we  stand,  nay 
we  move,  still  in  the  way  of  the  Lord,  strong  in  the  con- 
sciousness that  we  are  walking  with  God,  and  pledged 


20  Some  Religious  Changes 

only  to  that  purity  of  heart  and  openness  of  mind  which 
alone  make  us  worthy  of  the  name  we  love  best  to  bear — 
The  Church  of  the  Holy  Spirit. 


of 


On  the  second  day  of  the  celebration,  Saturday,  June 
11,  the  friends  and  members  of  the  Society  assembled  in 
the  church  at  10:30  a.  m.  Mr.  J.  D.  Harvey  presided 
and  the  following  order  of  exercises  were  followed: 

Address  of  Welcome,  -        Rev.  Geo.  B.  Penney 

Paper:  —  Historical  Sketch,        -  Rev.  T.  H.  Eddowes 

Singing:  —  Anniversary  Hymn,  written  by  Jas.  H.  West 
Paper:  —  Character  Sketch  of  First  Pastor,    Miss  Frances  LeBaron 
Singing:  —  Dedication  Hymn,  written  by  Eben  Conant. 

Owing  to  lack  of  time  the  following  papers  which 
are  .  included  in  the  published  proceedings  were  not  read. 
Incidents  and  Reminiscences,  Rev.  L.  C.  Kelsey 

Random  Reminiscences,  Mrs.  Julia  Dodson  Sheppard 

Memories  of  Early  Days,      -  -     Mrs.  Maria  Le  Baron  Turner 

At  the  close  of  the  morning  session  an  adjournment 
was  taken  to  the  home  of  Mr.  Harvey  where  a  collation 
was  served  by  the  ladies,  after  which  all  gathered  on  the 
lawn  in  the  shade  of  the  trees  and  with  Mr.  Penney  in 
the  chair  responses  were  made  and  letters  read  as  follows: 

A  Cambrian  Prophet,  Rev.  Jenkin  Lloyd  Jones 

A  Man  without  Guile,     -  -      Mrs.  J.  D.  Harvey 

Other  Pioneers,  Rev.  T.  B.  Forbush 

Letter,        -  Robert  Collyer 

Early  Women,  -         Mrs.  Mary  P.  Jarvis 

The  Original  Geneva,  -  -  Mr.  B.  W.  Dodson 
Poem:—  Fifty  Years,  -  Mrs.  Julia  Dodson  Sheppard 

Letter,        -  Rev.  Jno.  R.  Effinger 

Letter,  Prof.  Samuel  Clark 

Cui  Bono?  -     Rev.  T.  G.  Milsted 

A  Living  Saint,  Mrs.  J.  D.  Harvey 

Response,  Rev.  T.  H.  Eddowes 

Letter,  Rev.  Chester  Covell 

The  Illinois  Conference,  -       Rev.  L.  J.  Duncan 

Letter,  Rev.  Jas.  H.  West 

Freedom  of  Thought  and  Speech,  -  Rev.  Thos.  P.  Byrnes 
Woman's  Relation  to  Religious  Freedom,  Mrs.  Celia  P.  Woolley 
The  Literary  Value  of  the  Liberal  Faith,  Mr.  Forrest  Crissey 

The  Centennial  Celebration,  -        Rev.  Jas.  Vila  Blake 


©f 


BY  KEV.     GEO.     B.     PENNEY,     PASTOR     OF  THE     SOCIETY     SINCE 
JANUARY,   1892- 

V  N  address  of  welcome  always  seems  to  me  a 
^{\  useless  formality  and  especially  does  it  seem 

J^  ^^  —  ^^.  so  on  this  occasion.  It  is  as  though 
a  family  of  children  had  left  the  home 
circle  and  gone  out  into  the  world  and  in  after  years,  ripe 
with  the  experiences  of  life,  they  should  come  back  to  the 
home  of  their  youth  to  talk  over  old  times  and  to  plan  for 
the  future;  and  it  is  as  though  as  they  approach  the  thresh- 
old made  sacred  by  associations  and  with  hearts  touched  by 
memories  of  those  who  will  not  return,  they  should  be 
met  with  an  "address  of  welcome"  at  their  own  fireside 
by  someone  who  has  less  right  to  be  there  than  they  have. 

But  welcome  is  a  gracious  word  when  spoken  from 
the  heart,  and  I  assure  you  that  in  the  time  of  prepara- 
tion for  this  celebration  our  hearts  have  been  full  of  wel- 
come to  all  who  should  be  with  us;  and  in  behalf  of  the 
members  and  friends  of  the  First  Unitarian  Society  of 
Geneva,  I  welcome  you,  first  to  Geneva,  to  our  pure  air 
and  bright  sunlight.  I  welcome  you  to  our  homes,  assur- 
ing you  that  in  accepting  our  hospitality  you  leave  us  the 
debtors;  and  I  welcome  you-  most  of  all  to  your  share  in 
this  celebration,  which  shall  be,  with  us,  to  recall  the 
memory  of  those  who  have  gone  before,  whose  lives, 
nobly  lived,  have  made  this  society  what  it  is  to-day.  In 
a  word  I  welcome  you  to  this  celebration  which  is  a  bond 
between  the  past  and  the  present,  and  still  more  binds  the 
past  and  present  to  the  future,  the  future,  not  of  two  or 
four  score  years  and  ten,  but  the  future  that  reaching  be- 
yond this  life  turns  our  thought  to  that  other  glad  reunion 
in  the  realm  of  love  and  peace. 


BY  REV.    T.    H.  EDDOWES,  PASTOR  OF  THE  SOCIETY  1865  TO  '70. 


^  —  ^ 

HE  first  meeting  to  consider  the  matter  of  or- 
ganizing a  church  was  held  May  8,  1842. 
Mr.  Coiiant,  in  his  journal,  notes  that  "con- 
siderable hesitation  and  doubt  whether  the  proper  time  had 
come  was  manifested  by  some.  A  declaration,  of  princi- 
ples for  the  formation  of  a  society  on  the  ground  of  a  com- 
mon Christian  faith  without  regard  to  the  opinions  which 
distinguished  the  different  denominations  .of  Christians, 
had  been  drawn  up  and  circulated,  and  about  twenty 
names  obtained,  but  the  proposed  society  was  something 
different  from  the  old  religious  associations,  and  the  sub- 
ject was  reserved  for  consideration  until  another  meeting.  " 
May  29,  he  notes  the  first  communion  service  in  Geneva, 
thirteen  persons  uniting  in  it.  Then  June  12,—  "formed 
a  society  with  the  name  of  the  First  Christian  Congrega- 
ton  of  Geneva.  There  were  very  few  present  at  the  for- 
mation of  the  society,  and  the  prospect  of  maintaining  our 
existence  as  a  society  was  rather  dubious." 

The  first  entry  in  the  society  is  under  date  of  June  5, 


24,  Historical  Sketch. 

of  a  meeting  of  those  friendly  to  the  formation  of  a  soci- 
ety in  which  'all  Christians  may  unite  for  religious  purpos- 
es, '  which  was  held  at  the  Court  House.  This  entry  notes 
the  first  communion  as  taking  place  on  this  date,  instead 
of  May  29,  as  Mr.  Conant's  journal  has  it. 

The  record  for  June  12  is  very  short  and  only  notes 
that,  "the  declaration  was  read  by  the  chairman,  Mr.  Co- 
nant,'and  the  purposes  and  principles  of  the  society  ex- 
plained," probably  by  Mr.  Conant.  "On  motion  of  Chas. 
Patten,  seconded  by  S.  N.  Clark,  the  declaration  was 
unanimously  adopted."  The  meeting  adjourned  to  June 
26,  when  the  declaration  was  again  commented  on  and  the 
constitution  generally  discussed,  at  the  close  of  which 
each  of  the  twelve  articles  were  separately  adopted.  On 
motion  of  Scotto  Clark,  seconded  by  Samuel  Sterling,  both 
were  adopted.  The  names  attached  to  this  constitution 
under  date  of  July  2,  are  those  of  Scotto  Clark,  Mrs.  S. 
A.  Clark,  (Mrs.  Scotto)  Augustus  H.  Conant,  Mrs.  B.  M. 
Conant,  (Mrs.  A.  H.)  Samuel  K.  Whiting,  Mary  J.  G. 
Whiting,  Charles  Patten,  Mrs.  Harriet  F.  Patten,  Samuel 
N.  Clark,  Miss  P.  H.  Patten,  (afterwards  Mrs.  S.  N. 
Clark)  T.  L.  Cleveland,  Mrs.  Olivia  Cleveland,  Samuel 
Sterling,  Mrs  Cornelia  Sterling,  James  Carr,  Peter  Sears, 
Chas.  S.  Clark,  Mrs.  Betsey  Stelle  Carr,  Miss  Susan  S. 
Carr,  Miss  Fayette  R.  Churchill,  Mrs.  Harriet  N.  Dodson. 
These  entries  are  not  signatures  but  are  probably  copies 
of  those  attached  to  the  declaration  of  principles  mention- 
ed as  "circulated"  in  Mr.  Conant's  journal. 

The  declaration  begins  as  follows:  "The  undersign 
ed,  being  desirous  of  promoting  practical  Godliness  in  the 
world,  and  of  aiding  each  other  in  their  moral  and  relig- 
ious improvement,  have  associated  themselves  together, 
not  as  agreeing  in  opinion,  not  as  having  attained  univer- 
sal truth  in  belief,  or  perfection  in  character:  but  as  seek- 


Organization.  25 

ers  after  truth  and  goodness,  relying  on  God  as  their  sup- 
port and  aid,  Jesus  Christ  as  their  teacher  and  Saviour, 
and  the  sacred  scriptures  as  their  guide,  and  adopting  the 
New  Testament  as  their  rule  of  faith  and  practice.  Be- 
lieving in  God  as  a  Father  and  acknowledging  their  obli- 
gations of  love  and  obedience  to  him  and  to  Jesus  Christ 
as  his  Ambassador,  and  recognizing  as  brethren,  the 
whole  human  family,  and  as  Christians,  all  who  manifest 
the  spirit  of  Christ. ' ' 

Then  follow  the  further  declarations,  that  they  "regard 
a  conscientious  observance  of  the  ordinance  of  baptism 
as  enjoined  by  Jesus  Christ  to  be  the  duty  of  all  who  be- 
lieve the  gospel  and  would  yield  obedience  to  its  require- 
ments." Then  follows  the  declaration  that  "they  esteem 
it  a  high  privilege  to  observe  the  ordinance  of  the  Lord's 
Supper,  and  that  they  would  joyfully  extend  the  same 
privilege  to  all  who  feel  a  sincere  desire  to  commemorate 
the  Saviour's  love."  Finally:  "and  believing  further 
that  meetings  for  religious  instruction  and  sacred  worship 
are  not  only  enjoined  in  the  sacred  scriptures,  but  are 
highly  conducive  to  religious  improvement;  they  deter- 
mine to  use  all  just  and  reasonable  endeavors  to  sustain 
such  meetings  on  the  first  day  of  the  week  and  other  suit- 
able occasions,  and  to  accomplish  the  object  and  maintain 
the  principles  set  forth  in  this  declaration,  they  have 
under  the  motto  of  Liberty,  Holiness,  Love,  adopted  the 
following  constitution."  We  who  are  familiar  with  the 
terms  of  our  declaration,  do  not  realize  just  what  it  was  to 
some  of  those  who  signed  it.  There  were  people  of  as 
widely  differing  creeds  as  the  Presbyterians  and  the  Uni- 
tarians whose  names  are  attached.  To  us  the  declaration 
that  they  have  associated  themselves  together,  not  as 
agreeing  in  opinion,  seems  the  most  natural  thing  possi- 
ble. To  them  it  was  the  saving  clause  that  allowed  them 


26  Historical  /Sketch. 

to  join  forces  with  all  the  other  moral  and  religious  ele- 
ments of  the  community,  for  the  common  good,  without 
in  the  least  comprising  their  peculiar  beliefs  in  matters  of 
doctrine.  So  literally  was  their  position  understood 
among  themselves  that,  when  removed  from  Geneva,  or 
nearer  to  the  churches  of  their  peculiar  faiths,  or  even 
when  they  found  other  churches  willing  to  admit  them  to 
membership  without  saying  much  about  their  individual 
opinions,  they  felt  that  there  was  no  inconsistency  in 
uniting  with  such.  So  it  happens  that  members  of  this 
society  were  or  are  also  members  of  the  Methodist,  Bap- 
tist, Orthodox  Congregational,  and  I  suppose,  still  other 
communions.  I  am  told  that  there  was  a  feeling  among 
them  that  in  signing  this  paper  they  were  not  uniting  with 
a  church  but  only  joining  a  society;  a  feeling  which  was 
afterwards  confirmed  by  the  custom  which  was  then  fol- 
lowed of  administering  the  form  of  baptism,  and  that  of  a 
public  profession,  to  some  whose  names  were  upon  this 
roll,  but  not  to  all. 

As  late  as  1855  Mr.  Conant  began  keeping  a  parish 
record  in  which  he  -noted  the  names  and  occupations  of 
each  of  those  whom  he  considered  as  being  in  his  parish 
and  among  the  other  data,  he  notes  their  denominational 
connections,  and  puts  down  Methodists,  Episcopalians, 
Presbyterians,  Romanists,  Lutherans,  Universalists,  Scotch 
Seceders  and  one  as  "Quakerish."  The  church  record 
contains  the  names  in  various  offices  and  on  committees  of 
persons  who  were  afterward  connected  with  the  other 
churches  of  the  town.  In  the  days  when  the  pews  were 
rented  the  name  of  each  tenant  on  a  printed  slip  was 
attached  and  it  struck  me  as  very  strange  when  I  came 
in  1865  to  see  such  names  as  Mayburn, -Wells,  Hollis- 
ter  and  others  among  them,  as  those  persons  were  then 
connected  with  the  other  churches  of  the  place. 


Organization,  27 

The  first  article  of  the  constitution  announces  the  ti- 
tle of  the  society,  as  that  of  "First  Christian  Congregation 
of  Geneva."  The  second  says,  "All  persons  who  are  sin- 
cerely desirous  of  promoting  the  objects  of  the  society 
may  become  members."  As  originally  adopted,  no  con- 
dition of  observance  of  any  form,  or  signature  was  called 
for.  In  1870  this  article  was  amended  to  read,  "may 
become  members  by  signing  this  constitution:"  Decem- 
ber 14,  1845,  Article  XIII  was  adopted  which  might  be 
construed  as  in  some  measure  modifying  the  declaration. 
It  reads:  "The  land  and  the  house  of  religious  worship  of 
which  the  First  Christian  Congregation  have  come  in  pos- 
session in  the  use  of  funds  received  through  the  treasurer 
of  the  American  Unitarian  Association  from  the  Unitarian 
Society  in  Roxbury,  Mass.,  of  which  Rev.  George  Put- 
nam is  pastor,  and  others  aiding  them,  and  of  funds  con- 
tributed by  members  of  the  First  Christian  Congregation, 
and  others,  for  the  purposes  to  which  they  have  been  ap- 
plied, and  appropriated  to  the  purpose  and  object  of  ad- 
vancing and  diffusing  the  truths  and  doctriues  of  Unitari- 
an Christianity  and  of  the  declaration  of  the  First  Christ- 
ian Congregation,  according  to  the  laws  of  the  state  of 
Illinois  concerning  religious  societies." 

In  1870  Article  VI  was  amended  by  specifying  that 
the  officers  of  the  society  should  be  elected  for  one  year 
and  until  their  successors  were  elected.  Article  X  was 
made  to  read:  "This  constitution  may  be  altered  or  amen- 
ded by  a  vote  of  two-thirds  of  the  members  present  at  any 
regular  meeting."  In  1884  the  declaration  and  constitu- 
tion were  so  changed  and  amended  to  stand  as  at  the  pres- 
ent time.  The  principal  change  is  in  the  declaration,  by 
which  all  reference  to  any  belief  or  form  is  excluded. 
This  was  not  done  because  the  society  does  not  believe 
anything,  but  because  it  was  thought  sufficient  to  put 


28  Historical 

its  basis  on  the  simple  ground  of  sympathy  in  the  desire 
for  and  work  of  promoting  practical  goodness  in  the  world 
and  of  aiding  each  other  in  moral  and  religious  improve- 
ment. Broad  as  the  declaration  was  for  the  day  in  which 
it  was  written,  it  was  found  that  the  observance  of  the 
forms  of  baptism  and  the  Lord's  Supper,  which  it  assert- 
ed to  be  the  duty  of  believers  to  observe,  had  practically 
fallen  into  disuse.  It  was  also  apparent  that  in  the  ordi- 
nary course  of  events,  beliefs  must  so  change  that  no 
statement  of  opinion  or  creed  could  possibly  cover  the  be- 
liefs of  any  progressive  society  for  all  time.  It  was  also 
seen  that  people  could  unite  for  the  promotion  of  practical 
goodness,  who  had  widely  differing  views  in  religious  and 
theological  matters. 


I  find  that  Maine,  Vermont,  Connecticut,  Rhode  Is- 
land and  New  York  were  all  represented  in  the  organiza- 
tion of  the  society.  Massachusetts  sent  out  the  Clarks 
and  Pattens,  who  represented  the  cultivated  Boston  Uni- 
tarianism  of  that  date.  A  Unitarianism  which  accepted 
miracles,  the  miraculous  birth  among  them,  and  which  had 
not  made  itself  very  clear  as  to  the  future  state  of  punish- 
ment and  reward;  but  it  was  the  most  advanced  thought 
of  its  day,  and  as  far  as  it  had  gone,  as  true  to  our  mov- 
ing spirit  of  rationalism  as  the  most  advanced  type  of  to- 
day. It  was  the  same  spirit  that  was  so  native  to  all  New 
England,  that  when  the  Carrs  from  Maine  also  came  with 
their  freer  but  no  less  refined  ideals  of  social  life,  and  the 
Conants  from  Vermont,  with  their  Puritan  standards  and 
old  time  sturdiness  in  their  ability  to  give  a  reason  for  the 
faith  that  was  in  them,  they  naturally  fused  into  a  whole 
as  the  First  Christian  Congregation  of  Geneva.  Clarks, 
Carrs  and  Conants,  a  trinity  of  Cs,  that  suggests  that 


Personal.  29 

they  had  also  a  trinitarian  combination  of  culture,  courage, 
and  constancy  that  brought  about  the  Unitarian  result 
which  we  celebrate  so  gratefully  to-day. 

As  may  be  seen  by  our  society  record  and  the  history 
of  the  town,  the  Episcopalians  were  early  on  the  ground, 
and  Mrs.  Patten,  (Miss  H.  Clark,)  told  me  that  it  was  a 
matter  of  very  serious  consideration  with  her  father's  fam- 
ily, whether  they  ought  not  to  work  with  them.  I  under- 
stand that  it  was  only  because  they  thought  the  liberal  ba- 
sis would  reach  more  people,  that  they  did  not  organize  an 
Episcopal  church. 

We  now  come  to  the  grateful  task  of  recalling  the 
characters  of  the  leading  spirits  in  this  devout  and  courag- 
eous band.  While  all  were  worthy  of  special  mention, 
time  will  permit  of  only  a  few  being  so  brought  forward. 

First  comes  Scotto  Clark.  Coming  to  the  place 
about  1837,  in  middle  life  or  later,  to  retrieve  the  fortune 
he  had  lost  in  the  east,  he  seems  to  have  been  of  the  New 
England  type  which  we  know  so  well,  with  its  intelli- 
gence, its  moral  worth  and  its  matter-of-course  loyality 
to  its  standards  of  conviction  and  duty.  I  have  not  suc- 
ceeded in  finding  any  reminisences  of  him  that  would 
bring  him  before  us  in  a  vivid  way.  The  most  I  can  tell 
you  about  him  is  the  respectful  tone  in  which  he  is  always 
mentioned,  and  the  often  reiterated  assertion  that  the 
foundation  of  the  society  was  owing  to  him,  and  the  fact 
that  he  seems  to  have  been  the  one  to  whom  the  younger 
people  turned  as  to  their  mutual  leader  in  the  enterprise. 
It  certainly  was  not  with  money  that  he  founded  the 
church,  but  with  the  stronger  foundation  stones  of  a  noble 
character,  a  fine  devotion  and  a  bold  determination  to  do 
simply  all  that  lay  in  his  power  for  the  establishment  of  a 
church  for  the  good  of  the  society.  His  name  heads  the 
list  of  men's  signatures  to  the  declarations  as  copied  in  the 


SO  Historical  Sketch. 

record.  It  appears  first  in  the  proceedings  of  the  society 
as  chairman  of  the  building  committee  that  was  chosen  to 
supervise  the  erection  of  this  house.  He  was  chairman 
of  the  committee  on  parish  library  and  in  September 
1843  was  elected  one  of  the  trustees. 

Under  date  of  October  13,  1844-,  Mr.  Conant  writes 
in  his  journal:  "Preached  the  funeral  discourse  of  Mr. 
Scotto  Clark,  a  worthy  and  efficient  member  of  my  society, 
one  of  my  most  zealous  friends  and  supporters,  and 
who  was  chiefly  instrumental  in  procuring  my  settlement 
in  Geneva.  In  the  death  of  Mr.  Clark,  our  village  has 
lost  one  of  its  best  citizens.  A  public  spirited,  upright, 
judicious  and  useful  man.  His  hospitality  and  kindness 
of  heart  endeared  him  to  a  large  circle  of  acquaintances, 
and  his  strict  integrity  and  conscientiousness  inspired  re- 
spect and  confidence  in  those  who  best  knew  his  character. ' ' 
Only  seven  years  had  he  lived  in  the  place,  his  death  oc- 
curring in  little  more  than  two  years  after  the  founding 
of  the  society. 

Mrs.  Clark  lived  till  1870.  She  was  in  every  way  a 
woman  fitted  to  be  the  wife  of  such  a  man.  There  is 
the  same  respectful  mention  of  her  and  the  same  lack  of 
the  specific  instances  that  would  have  brought  her  charac- 
ter before  us  in  a  lifelike  way.  In  her  latest  years  she 
withdrew  from  society  altogether  owing  to  the  infirmities 
of  age.  Though  she  lived  five  years  after  I  came  to  Ge- 
neva, I  met  her  only  once.  Soon  after  my  coming  her 
interest  in  the  new  minister  led  her  to  exchange  a  few 
words  with  me.  As  I  recall  the  venerable  figure  and  the 
intense  earnestness  of  the  face,  it  comes  to  me  to-day 
that  it  was  a  privilege  to  look  into  it;  and  through  the 
clasp  of  her  hand,  surely  there  might  have  come  an  influ- 
ence that  made  me  a  kind  of  apostolic  successor  to  those 
who  had  labored  so  devotedly  for  the  cause  we  both  loved. 


Personal.  31 

It  was  indeed  a  beautiful  hand  if  what  one  does  gives  a 
higher  beauty  to  that  member  than  the  accident  of  phys- 
ical proportion. 

The  one  record  of  a  specific  action  of  her's  which 
we  have  left  is  of  the  time  she  lived  with  her  son  Charles 
in  Elgin,  about  1849.  A  colony  of  Swedes  landed  there, 
and  before  they  could  find  shelter,  were  attacked  by  the 
cholera.  Mrs.  Clark  went  to  their  help  when  others  stood 
aloof,  and  ministered  to  them  in  spite  of  the  difficulties  of 
communicating  with  them ;  and  one  of  the  items  of  the 
story  tells  us,  how  one  woman  died  holding  her  bible  in 
one  hand  and  Mrs.  Clark's  hand  in  the  other,  .and  with  a 
smile  on  her  face.  When  I  came  here  in  1865.  it  was 
said,  that  as  the  result  of  that  beneficence,  the  Swedes 
would  do  anything  for  the  Clark  family.  1  well  remem- 
ber how  her  sympathetic  interest  in  church  life  prompted 
her  to  send  me  messages  from  time  to  time  through  Mrs. 
Patten,  though  she  would  never, see  me. 

It  is  natural  to  pass  from  so  worthy  a  mother  to  her 
equally  worthy  daughters.  It  is  easy  to  understand  what 
a  satisfaction  it  must  have  been  to  the  parents  to  know 
that  that  they  were  leaving  their  work  to  be  carried  on  by 
such  devoted  children  as  Mrs.  Harriet  Patten,  Mrs.  Caro- 
line Wilson  and  Mrs.  Ellen  Davis.  It  is  good  to  know 
that  so  many  who  hear  me  to-day  can  recall  with  me, 
without  help  of  my  weak  words,  the  devotion  of  these 
women  to  this  church.  It  was  my  fortune  to  be  the  last 
pastor  under  whom  they  were  fully  active  in  their  con- 
genial work.  I  had  not  been  twenty-four  hours  in  the 
town  before  I  was  told  that  this  is  a  "woman's  church," 
and  it  did  not  take  me  long  to  find  out  that  it  was  the  de- 
votion of  these  two  sisters  that  gave  it  that  name.  They 
were  indeed  well  seconded  by  Mrs.  Dodson,  Mrs.  LeBar- 
on,  Miss  Carr,  Mrs." Cleveland,  and  later,  Mrs.  Whiting, 


32  Historical  Sketch 

Mrs.  Larrabee,  Mrs.  Geo.  Patten,  and  others  whose 
names  are  only  a  memory  to  the  older  members.  One 
felt  that  Mrs.  Wilson's  ideals  were  of  the  highest,  and 
her  constant  aim  was  to  have  for  her  church  the  best  that 
could  be  found  or  afforded.  Mrs.  Patten's  enthusiasm 
for  Unitarianism  was  not  long  in  making  itself  felt.  I 
remember  hearing  her  call  herself  a  "bigoted"  Unitarian. 
But  though  she  might  use  the  term  to  express  her  sense 
of  devotion  to  the  cause,  we  know  that  bigotry  was  im- 
possible to  her  broad  charity,  warm  heart  and  intelligent 
mind.  The  beautiful  hospitality  of  her  home  to  all  who 
might  come  in  the  name  of  Unitarianism  makes  her  mem- 
ory a  fragrant  one  in  the  hearts  of  every  one  eo  fortunate 
as  to  be  her  guest.  It  was  a  home  which  might  be  said 
to  be  consecrated  to  the  use  of  the  church,  so  generous 
was  her  entertainment,  so  frequent  the  use  of  the  home 
for  church  gatherings  of  all  kinds.  Mrs.  Davis  gave  as 
heartily  as  her  two  sisters,  of  her  home  and  talents  to  the 
use  of  the  society,  but  her  marriage  was  followed  by  a 
change  of  residence  which  prevented  so  long  a  devotion 
to  the  church  as  the  others  gave. 

Unique  among  the  women  of  this  society,  and  indeed 
of  any  society,  stands  the  name  of  Miss  Susan  Sophia 
Carr,  one  of  the  original  signers  who  is  with  us  to-day; 
the  only  one  who  has  never  lost  her  interest  or  slackened 
her  work  in  all  these  fifty  years.  The  others  by  death  or 
removal  terminated  their  active  interest  but,  when  her 
removal  to  her  brother's  farm  at  Batavia  compelled  her  to 
give  up  the  Sunday  School  class  she  had  taught  from  the 
beginning,  she  still,  by  her  dainty  needle  work  and  active 
assistance  during  fairs  and  special  occasions,  kept  herself 
in  touch  with  the  society.  Upon  her  return,  after  four 
years  absence,  she  became  as  before  one  of  the  most  active 
in  her  attendance  at  church,  and  in  the  aid  society  where 


Personal.  33 

her  work  is  always  in  demand,  on  account  of  her  beauti- 
ful stitches;  besides  which,  she  has  always  contributed 
generously  from  her  very  limited  income.  It  is  rarely 
that  a  church  can  show  a  record  like  this,  of  fifty  years  of 
uninterrupted  and  enthusiastic  devotion  to  its  interests, 
especially  in  this  western  world  where  change  is  the  order 
of  the  day. 

I  purposely  omitted  from  the  list  of  seconders  of  these 
two  the  name  of  Mrs.  S.  N.  Clark,  because  it  belongs  not 
among  those  who  seconded  but  with  those  who  were  sec- 
onded. In  one  sense  this  church  building  is  her  monu- 
ment. In  another  place  is  mention  of  the  part  she  took 
in  obtaining  the  money  in  Boston  and  Roxbury  which  se- 
cured the  erection  of  this  house.  On  her  account  I  look 
forward  with  regret  to  the  day  which  is  almost  sure  to 
come,  when  the  society  shall  feel  that  it  needs  another 
building.  I  wish  to  suggest  here,  that  when  that  time 
does  come  no  building  should  be  erected  as  a  church  for 
the  use  of  this  society  without  having  somewhere  on  its 
walls  a  memorial  of  Polly  H.  Clark;  not  alone  because 
she  was  so  strongly  instrumental  in  the  building  of  its 
first  house  of  worship,  but  because  that  was  but  the  begin- 
ning of  a  devotion  to  the  interests  of  this  society  which 
was  all  the  more  earnest  for  its  unobtrusiveness.  Her 
means,  her  time  and  strength  were  amply  given  to  further 
our  interests.  I  do  not  think  1  go  beyond  the  require- 
ments of  delicacy  of  feeling  in  saying  that  the  interest  she 
showed  in  the  church  during  the  last  ten  or  fifteen  years 
of  her  active  connection  with  it  was,  I  suspect,  to  her  a 
tender  memorial  of  her  husband,  Samuel  Nye  Clark. 

Coming  to  the  town  in  the  first  flush  of  what  his 
after  life  showed  must  have  been  a  consecrated  manhood, 
he  has  left  behind  a  record  of  one  of  the  noblest  charac- 
ters which  has  ennobled  and  sanctified  the  name  of  this 


34  Historical  Sketch. 

church.  That  she  was  the  fitting  wife  for  such  a  man  is 
all  that  need  be  said  of  her.  She  has  been  described  as 
a  woman  who  always  lamented  that  she  was  not  able 
to  do  more,  and  thinking  it  not  wise  to  attempt  this  or 
that  enterprise  in  church  matters,  ended  by  doing 
more  than  anyone  else,  showing  the  forethought  and 
wisdom  that  resulted,  as  one  has  said  of  her,  in  her  being 
"the  one  who  filled  the  lamps  and  saw  that  everything 
was  brought"  that  was  needed  on  all  special  occasions. 

When  I  came  here  nine  years  after  Mr.  Clark's  death 
I  never  heard  his  memory  revived  without  tenderness  or 
his  name  mentioned  without  allusion  to  the  saintliness  of 
his  character  and  his  devotedness  to  the  church.  Of  this 
last  the  church  record  fortunately  gives  full  evidence  as 
the  entries  of  the  first  twelve  years  are  in  his  handwriting ; 
the  last  being  made  only  a  fortnight  before  the  date  of  his 
funeral  as  recorded  in  Mr.  Conant's  diary. 

He  says  of  him  there,  briefly  and  feelingly, 
under  date  of  July  22,  1856.  "Attended  the  funeral  of 
Brother  S.  N.  Clark,  my  Sunday  School  Superintendent 
and  my  intimate  and  dear  friend.  The  loss  to  me  and  to 
the  society  in  the  death  of  Brother  Clark  is  irreparable. 
He  was  a  model  of  manly  and  Christian  excellence.  One 
whose  presence  was  a  benediction  and  whose  life  made 
earth  more  like  heaven.  God  be  thanked  that  he  lived 
among  us." 

It  is  a  matter  of  satisfaction  to  know  that  one  of  Mr. 
Clark's  sons  has  served  the  society  as  Sunday  School  Su- 
perintendent and  the  other  as  trustee  and  in  business  com- 
mittees. His  grandchildren  have  been  pupils  in  the 
school  he  worked  for  so  long, 

A  friend  has  handed  me  the  following  note  which 
appears  to  be  a  copy  of  an  item  sent  to  one  of  the  de- 
nominational papers  and  written  in  1857  or  '58: 


Personal.  35 

"Geneva,  Illinois,  is  now  enjoying  the  ministrations 
of  Rev.  G.  W.  Woodward,  formerly  of  Galena.  He  has 
preached  only  a  few  weeks  to  a  congregation  somewhat 
disheartened  by  a  variety  of  depressing  experiences,  but 
there  are  already  evidences  of  rising  courage  and  an  earn- 
est and  determined  spirit  of  perseverance  in  sustaing  pub- 
lic worship  in  Geneva.  As  in  some  other  places,  there  are 
some  noble  women  who  love  the  church  and  its  wor- 
ship and  who  'never  say  die.'  Their  former  pas- 
tor was  in  the  place  a  few  days  ago;  the  church  door 
stood  open  and  he  stepped  in.  There  were  the  ladies  of 
the  society^ — not  a  delegation  of  their  servants — in 
their  own  proper  persons  and  with  their  own  fair  hands 
with  soap  and  brush  cleaning  the  church  they  loved  so 
well  and  in  the  neat  appearance  of  which  they  always 
felt  a  noble,  womanly  pride.  After  standing  for  some 
moments  unobserved,  he  interrupted  the  cheerful  conver- 
sation and  earnest  work  by  inquiring  if  what  he  saw  was 
an  attempt  at  a  practical  illustration  of  'washing  the 
saints'  feet. '  They  confessed  that  what  they  were  doing 
partook  of  that  nature,  for  they  said  that  when  they  came 
to  the  pew  occupied  by  the  widow  and  orphans  of  the 
excellent  and  deeply  loved  Superintendent,  Samuel  N. 
Clark,  no  one  was  allowed  the  honor  of  washing  it  alone 
but  all  assisted  as  an  expression  of  their  profound  respect 
and  fervent  love." 

Next  on  my  list  comes  the  name  of  Ebeu  Conant. 
I  count  it  one  of  my  great  privileges  to  have  known  him 
for  the  last  five  years  of  his  life  though  he  died  at  the  age 
of  ninety-five.  His  peculiarities  of  appearance  and  man- 
ner did  not  make  him  an  attractive  person.  Yet  every 
one  who  mentioned  "Grandfather  Conant"  did  it  with  a 
tone  of  respect  that  would  come  in  as  a  sort  of  mental  res- 
ervation, even  when  speaking  in  an  amused  way  of  his 


36  Historical  Sketch. 

peculiarties. 

It  was  generally  thought  that  he  was  lacking  in  the  high- 
er development  of  the  emotions,  yet  I  am  suspicious  that  it 
was  not  so  much  a  lack  of  feeling  as  the  want  of  the 
power  of  expression  in  the  common  way.  I  have  heard 
him  say  that  he  could  see  no  beaut}  in  flowers,  and  the 
sound  of  a  fiddle  made  him  feel  like  running.  Yet  he 
was  a  man  of  such  a  profound  conviction  of  the  importance 
of  duty,  so  great  a  reverence  for  God,  so  large  a  faith  in 
man,  so  strong  a  confidence  in  the  saving  power  of  truth, 
that  out  of  all  these  he  stood  forth  the  eminently  religious 
man;  and  a  man  who  was  religious  by  the  force  of  his  in- 
tellectual convictions.  His  Unitarianism  was  the  result 
of  his  own  thinking.  Theological  and  religious  matters 
were  of  the  highest  interest  to  him.  Out  of  his  orthodox 
education  had  come  such  a  habit  of  regarding  the  bible  as 
the  source  of  wisdom  and  guidance  in  those  matters  that 
he  made  it  the  great  study  of  his  life.  It  was  a  revelation 
indeed  to  hear  him  talk  on  such  topics  and  note  the  natu- 
ral way  in  which  his  thought  found  scriptural  language. 
No  Professor  of  biblical  exegesis  could  show  such  depth  of 
meaning,  such  variety  of  shade,  such  profusion  of  sugges- 
tions, as  this  homely  old  man,  by  the  simple  natural  tone 
and  emphasis  he  employed  in  quoting  scripture. 

It  was  the  power  of  such  convictions  and  the  power 
of  such  a  character  that  he  brought  to  the  upbuilding  of 
this  church. 

We  come  next  to  the  names  of  William  and  Sarah 
LeBaron.  Theirs  was  another  of  the  instances  so  fortu- 
nate for  the  society,  in  which  marriage  was  not  a  failure. 
Their  common  interest  in  the  liberal  faith  and  the  welfare 
of  this  society  would  have  made  a  marriage  that  would 
have  withstood  the  strongest  test  to  which  the  relation 
might  be  put.  Dr.  LeBaron  was  a  graduate  of  the  Har- 


Personal.  37 

vard  Medical  School  which  profession  in  that  day  was  the 
one  in  which,  in  this  country,  a  scientific  education  could 
best  be  obtained.  His  mind  and  temperament  led  him 
naturally  to  the  pursuit  of  science  and  so  "true  to  his 
own  self"  was  he  that  he  achieved  an  European  reputa- 
tion as  an  entomologist  from  a  locality  so  obscure  as  this. 
It  was  this  scientific  mind  with  his  tender  heart,  his  quick 
and  practical  sympathy  that  made  him  a  natural  born 
Unitarian.  He  was  too,  the  man  on  whom  naturally  fell 
the  mantle  of  Samuel  N.  Clark  as  church  factotum. 
Their  terms  of  official  services  were  nearly  the  same,  Dr. 
LeBaron  serving  as  trustee  for  eleven  consecutive  years. 
His  signature  was  given  to  the  church  roll  in  1845  and 
from  that  date  to  1856  he  was  elected  trustee  and  in  1862, 
1866  and  1870  he  was  chosen  to  be  secretary  and  treasurer. 

He  carried  the  church  so  deeply  in  his  heart  that  he 
wrote  up  the  record  from  memory  when  he  first  took 
charge  of  the  books.  The  temptation  to  dwell  upon  the 
memory  of  this  man  is  strong  because  I  am  writing  from 
my  personal  knowledge. 

This  special  mention  of  those  who  have  given  whole- 
hearted service  to  the  church  would  be  incomplete  without 
the  name  of  Robert  Long,  Sr.  He  was  not  among  the 
earlier  comers,  but  living  among  us  for  twenty-six  years, 
his  zeal  and  earnestness  increased  with  his  years.  Though 
he  died  at  the  age  of  eighty-six  the  last  years  of  his  life  were 
the  best  in  church  work.  His  clear  head,  loyal  heart,  and 
liberal  hand  have  been  greatly  missed  since  his  departure. 

I  must  content  myself,  and  probably  disappoint  some 
of  you,  by  saying  only  that  his  character  and  attainments 
were  of  such  worth  as  to  add  to  the  value  of  the  religious 
faith  to  which  he  gave  his  adherence  and  to  help  conse- 
crate the  cause  for  which  he  worked. 

It  ought  to  add  much  to  our  appreciation  of  our  faith 


38  Historical  Sketch. 

to  know  that  it  commanded  the  loyalty  of  such  persons  as 
Scotto  and  Samuel  Clark,  the  enthusiasm  of  Harriet  Patten 
and  Caroline  Wilson,  the  devotedness  of  Polly  Clark  and 
faithful  service  of  William  and  Sarah  LeBaron  and  Rob- 
ert Long.  I  have  not  spoken  of  these  men  and  women 
because  their  Unitarianism  was  a  credit  to  them,  but  be- 
cause they  were  a  credit  to  Unitarianism. 

Turning  to  more  general  considerations  of  the  mem- 
bership we  find  that  five  signers  of  the  Declaration  of  1842 
are  still  living;  Mrs.  Samuel  Clark,  Mrs.  A.  H.  Conant, 
Mrs.  Wm.  Conant  (whose  name  was  Mrs.  Olivia  Cleveland), 
Mrs.  David  Hanchett,  (whose  signature  was  Fayette 
Churchill)  and  Miss  Susan  Sophia  Carr.*  One  hundred 
and  forty -four  names  have  been  attached  to  the  constitu- 
tion in  the  fifty  years,  ninety-two  of  women  and  fifty-two 
of  men. 

It  is  interesting  to  note  among  these  names  six  of  one 
family,  that  of  Thomas  and  Rachel  Moulding;  these  with 
three  of  the  Middletons  and  John  B.  Gulley  and  John 
Eddowes,  were  born  in  England,  while  Joseph  and  Ann 
Williams  were  from  Wales. 

I  pause  on  these  names  for  the  interest  there  is  for 
me  in  the  fact  that  a  colony  of  liberals  from  Old  England 
should  have  come  to  associate  with  that  first  New  Eng- 
land Colony  in  a  common  interest  in  liberalism. 

So  much  I  make  room  to  say  about  the  members  by 
signature.  But  how  shall  I  speak  of  the  membership, 
which  I  suspect  is  much  larger  in  numbers  in  every  de- 
nomination, which  might  be  called  the  membership  by  as- 
sociation or  of  the  spirit.  I  refer  to  the  large  constituen- 
cy which  it  is  the  lot  of  most  churches  to  have.  They 
are  the  people  who  attend  the  church  from  various  motives. 

*NOTE:  Mrs.  A.  H.  Conant,  Mrs.  Wm.  Conant  and  Miss  Carr 
attended  the  Semi-centennial  celebration. 


Church  Building.  39 

Among  them  are  to  be  found  some  of  the  most  ardent 
supporters  of  the  faith  and  those  who  have  been  the  most 
self-sacrificing  in  the  matters  of  giving  time  and  strength, 
and  the  most  generous  in  their  donations  of  money.  I  can- 
not pause  even  to  name  them. 


What  was  the  first  place  of  meeting  I  -have  not  been 
able  to  determine.  Private  houses,  a  store  on  the  east 
side  where  the  Gully  residence  now  stands,  then  occupied 
by  Peter  Sears,  a  log  schoolhouse  near  the  river,  and  the 
old  Court  House  on  the  site  of  the  present  Swedish  Luth- 
eran church,  and  the  basement  of  the  American  House 
are  all  mentioned  as  being  occupied  at  various  times. 

Each  place  had  its  peculiar  discomforts.  The  store 
had  so  much  whisky  stored  in  its  cellar  as  to  make  the 
"vile  odor"  of  it  a  nuisance  to  the  temperance  people  at 
least,  and  probably  a  source  of  inattention  to  those  who 
were  not  temperate.  The  log  schoolhouse  was  cold,  and 
the  scampering  of  the  mice  on  the  rafters,  which  were  ' 
visible  for  lack  of  plastering,  afforded  the  children  relief 
from  the  weariness  of  services  they  may  not  have 
comprehended. 

The  history  of  the  present  building  begins  with  a 
note  in  Mr.  Conant's  Journal  under  date  of  January  17, 
1843.  He  says:  "Received  a  letter  from  Miss  P.  H. 
Patten,  a  young  lady  who  was  in  Geneva,  and  who  be- 
came a  member  of  our  society  at  its  formation  but  who 
has  since  returned  to  Roxbury,  informing  us  that  she  was 
making  preparations  for  a  fair  to  aid  our  society.  That 
she  and  her  sister,  (afterwards  Mrs.  Eastman)  had  visited 
Mr.  Briggs,  general  secretary  of  the  American  Unitarian 
Association,  to  ascertain  if  anything  could  be  obtained  of 
the  Association  to  aid  us  to  build  a  church  in  Geneva,  and 


40  Historical  Sketch. 

that  he  suggested  that  we  make  known  our  wants  through 
the  Christian  Register.  According  to  the  suggestion  of 
Mr.  Briggs,  on  February  21  I  wrote  for  the  Register  an 
account  of  our  situation  and  wants,  and  an  appeal  for  aid 
to  build  a  church." 

The  letter  referred  to  has  been  found  in  the  files  of 
the  Christian  Register  under  date  of  March  18,  1843,  as 
well  as  other  articles  referring  to  the  matter: 

(From  Christian  Register  of  March  18,  1843.) 

GENEVA,  KANE  COUNTY,  ILLINOIS,  February  21 ,  1843. 
Messrs.  Editors: 

As  I  have  not  the  pecuniary  means  to  visit  the  East  to  make 
an  appeal  to  the  religious  sympathies  of  our  brethren,  I  would  be 
glad  of  a  little  space  in  the  columns  of  the  Register  to  make  known 
to  the  liberal-minded  and  warm-hearted  of  our  faith,  in  New  Eng- 
land, the  situation  and  wants  of  our  infant  society  in  Geneva.  That 
there  may  be  no  misaprehension  with  regard  to  the  importance  of 
the  place  and  its  claims  to  consideration  on  this  ground,  I  will  re- 
mark that  it  is  not  a  place  of  great  magnitude  nor  in  a  very  flour- 
ishing condition  at  this  time.  The  mania  for  speculation  in  "Town- 
seats,"  a  few  years  since,  operated  seriously  against  its  growth  and 
.  prosperity.  The  original  proprietors  demanded  so  high  a  price  for 
lots  that  few  purchases  were  made.  But  that  mania  has  now  sub- 
sided; property  can  now  be  purchased  at  a  reasonable  price,  and  we 
look  for  a  change  for  the  better.  It  is  the  seat  of  Justice  for  Kane 
county,  has  a  good  water-power  and  with  regard  to  convenience 
for  building  and  pleasant  natural  scenery  it  is  as  well  situated  as 
any  village  in  the  West.  What  we  consider  of  most  importance, 
however,  is  the  country  around  it.  and  its  central  location  with  re- 
gard to  other  places.  It  is  a  fertile,  healthy  and  already  well  pop- 
ulated region,  six  thriving  villages  within  twelve  miles,  and  it 
may  be  made  the  center  of  religious  influence  for  a  wide  extent. 

Our  society,  which  is  established  on  the  broad  grounds  of 
common  Christianity,  was  organized  June  12,  1842.  In  the  words 
of  our  Declaration,  '  'We  have  associated  ourselves  together  to  pro- 
mote practical  godliness  in  the  world,  and  aid  each  other  in  moral 
and  religious  improvement;  not  as  agreeing  in  opinion,  not  as  hav- 
ing attained  universal  truth  in  belief,  or  perfection  in  character, 
but  as  seekers  after  truth  and  goodness.  Relying  on  God  as  our 
support  and  aid,  Jesus  Christ  as  our  Teacher  and  Sayiour,  and  the 
sacred  Scriptures  as  our  guide,  and  adopting  the  New  Testament 
as  our  rule  of  faith  and  practice,  recognizing  as  brethren  the  whole 


Church  Building.  J^l 

human  family,  and  as  Christians  all  who  manifest  the  spirit  of 
Christ." 

There  is  no  other  religious  society  in  the  place,  and  Episcopal- 
ians, Presbyterians  and  Baptists  have  united  with  our  society  and 
meet  with  us  for  worship.  Though  embracing  such  a  variety  in 
doctrinal  opinions,  our  number  is  small;  less  than  forty  names  are 
attached  to  our  Declaration,  and  the  number  of  efficient  members 
is  less  than  thirty.  None  of  us  are  rich  in  the  the  things  of  this 
world,  but  I  trust  some  are  rich  in  faith  and  good  purpose. 

Feeble  as  we  are,  we  are  ready  to  put  forth  what  strength  we 
have,  and  we  believe  that  the  principles  we  have  adopted  are 
mighty,  and  need  only  a  fair  opportunity  to  secure  a  glorious 
triumph. 

We  are  at  present  suffering  great  inconvenience  for  want  of  a 
suitable  place  in  which  to  hold  meetings.  The  Court  House,  in 
which  we  have  held  meetings  in  summer,  is  out  of  repair  and  with- 
out a  stove.  During  the  present  winter  we  have  sometimes  held 
our  meetings  on  the  Sabbath  in  a  private  house,  and  at  other  times 
in  a  small  room  erected  for  a  grocery  or  store-room  for  ardent 
spirits,  but  now  occupied  during  the  week  as  a  school-room.  The 
room,  though  so  dark  as  to  be  very  inconvenient,  is  very  open,  the 
walls  plastered  only  in  part,  loose  boards  overhead  and  wide  cracks 
in  the  floor  admitting  the  strong  and  abominable  odor  of  alcohol 
from  the  cellar,  and  the  cold  air  from  every  side  without.  In  ad- 
dition to  other  discomforts,  the  smoke  has  forced  tears  other  than 
those  of  emotion  from  our  eyes,  and  I  have  sometimes  shivered 
with  the  cold  to  such  a  degree  that  distinct  articulation  was  almost 
impossible.  Notwithstanding  these  inconveniences  some  of  our 
society  come  four  of  five  miles  and  attend  meeting  regularly.  But 
those  who  have  not  firm  nerve  and  constitution  dare  not  expose 
themselves,  and  remain  at  home,  and  those  who  are  not  interested 
in  religion  feel  little  disposition  to  endure  the  inconvenience. 

Unless  we  can  have  a  more  suitable  place  in  which  to  hold 
meetings,  our  society,  if  it  does  not  utterly  perish,  will  fail  to  ac- 
complish the  design  of  its  formation.  A  congregation  cannot  be 
kept  together  under  the  circumstances  in  which  we  are  placed. 

If  the  inconveniences  we  suffer  were  conducive  to  the  interests 
of  religion,  we  would  scorn  to  mention  them.  It  is  not  for  these 
inconveniences  that  we  care,  or  of  these  that  we  would  complain; 
but  it  is  that  they  stand  in  the  way  of  our  doing  that  for  which  we 
would  willingly  endure  much  more.  They  weaken  our  efforts,  frus- 
trate our  plans,  and  prevent  the  opportunity  of  exerting  the  little 
influence  we  may  possess. 

This  is  the  evil  we  feel  most  deeply,  and  it  is  this  which  has 
compelled  us  to  speak  of  our  condition.  If  the  remedy  were  in  our 
own  power,  we  should  never  have  troubled  others  with  an  account 
of  these  circumstances  or  asked  for  aid.  But  it  is  not,  and  we  be- 


4-2  Historical  Sketch. 

lieve  fidelity  to  the  cr.use    of  our    Master  requires    that  we   make 
this  statement. 

We  do  not  wish  for  a  splendid  church  with  a  lofty  spire,  a 
cushioned  pulpit  and  carpeted  aisles,  but  we  wish  for  a  place  where 
we  may  have  space  and  light  and  comfcrt;  where  the  sufferings  of 
the  outward  shall  not  take  our  attention  from  the  wants  of  the  in- 
ward life.  A  place  consecrated  to  religion  and  to  the  worship  of 
God.  We  do  not  ask  others  to  make  sacrifice  for  us  equal  to  what 
we  are  willing  to  make  for  ourselves.  Those  who  do  not  see  and 
experience,  cannot  be  expected  to  have  the  knowledge  and  feel- 
ings of  those  who  do.  All  we  would  ask  is,  that  those  who  cherish 
the  same  principles  and  feel  an  interest  in  their  maintenance  and 
spread  in  the  world,  would  contribute  of  "their  abundance"  to  the 
supply  of  "our  want." 

We  think  that  five  hundred  dollars,  with  what  we  can  do  our- 
selves, will  enable  us  to  erect  such  a  building  as  we  need,  and  for 
this  sum  we  appeal  to  the  religious  sympathies  of  our  brethren  in 
New  England. 

We  do  not  expect  large  contributions  from  individuals,  but  we 
hope  many  will  be  disposed  in  this  case  to  test  from  experience  the 
truth  of  the  saying,  ''It  is  more  blessed  to  give  than  to  receive." 
"If  there  be  a  willing  mind  it  will  be  accepted  according  to  what  a 
man  hath  and  not  according  to  what  he  hath  not."  The  moun- 
tain is  composed  of  grains,  and  we  hope  none  will  feel  that  the 
offering  of  "two  mites"  will  be  of  no  importance.  Contributions 
will  be  received  by  Rev.  Charles  Briggs,  General  Secretary,  A.  U. 
A.,  and  Mr.  David  Page.  Boston.  Individuals  and  societies  from 
a  distance  may  perhaps  in  some  cases  forward  their  contributions 
to  Boston  by  clergymen  who  attend  the  May  meetings. 

Yours  in  the  faith  and  love  of  Christ, 

A.  H.  C. 
(From  the  Christian  Register  of  April  1,  1843.) 

Extract  from  a  letter  from  a  gentleman  in  Geneva,  Kane 
county,  Illinois,  to  his  friend  in  Boston: 

I  have  heard  to-day  two  most  excellent  discourses  from  the 
Rev.  Mr.  Conant.  Knowing  the  great  interest  you  feel  in  the 
Unitarian  cause,  I  will  endeavor  to  give  you  some  idea  of  the  trials 
of  a  Western  preacher — as  I  am  sure  you  will  appreciate  the  en- 
ergy and  indefatigable  zeal  of  this  true  disciple  of  our  great  Mas- 
ter. Mr.  Conant  is  settled  at  -Geneva,  where  he  preaches  every 
other  Sunday,  and  devotes  the  alternate  Sabbaths  to  the  neighbor- 
ing towns.  Neither  the  most  tempestuous  weather  nor  intense 
cold  prevents  his  being  punctual  to  his  engagements.  He  frequent- 
ly has  appointments  for  one  day  at  places  six,  eight  and  ten  miles 
apart,  and  although  sometimes  he  finds  only  three  or  four  hearers 
he  is  never  disheartened,  but  renews  his  appointments  with  per- 


Church  Building.  1$ 

feet  faith  that  the  great  truths  he  preaches  need  only  to  ba  known 
to  conquer  existing  prejudices.  He  meets  sometimes  with  much 
opposition,  but  still  he  finds  in  many  places  persons  who,  although 
members  of  other  churches,  exclaim  with  surprise  on  hearing  the 
Unitarian  doctrine,  "That  is  what  I  have  always  believed."  One 
old  man  was  so  much  pleased  with  Mr.  Conant  the  other  evening, 
that  when  the  services  were  ended  he  came  forward  and  presented 
him  with  a  shilling.  This  is  a  fair  sample  of  Mr.  Conant's  compen- 
sation. All  he  receives  is  from  his  paople  in  Geneva,  and  he  asks 
of  them  merely  a  support,  which  is  generally  given  in  the  produce 
of  the  country,  after  the  fashion  of  our  Puritan  ancestors.  Fortu- 
nately Mr.  Conant  has  some  kind  friends  at  the  East.  The  duties 
of  his  profession  appear  with  him  a  perfect  labor  of  love.  You  who 
enjoy  such  privileges  with  regard  to  Unitarian  preaching  can 
scarcaly  realize  its  value  to  those  who,  having  emigrated  to  the 
West  in  its  wildest  state,  have  been  deprived  for  years  of  all 
preaching  save  that  to  be  heard  at  a  camp-meeting  or  from  some 
traveling  preacher  The  Unitarians  have  no  regular  place  of  wor- 
ship at  Geneva.  The  building  they  now  occupy  is  unfinished,  and 
so  cold  that  many  of  Mr.  C.'s  most  zealous  friends  are  deterred 
from  attendance.  You  may  hope  that  I  am  not  amongst  the  miss- 
ing, but  I  must  plead  guilty  when  the  thermometer  is  much  below 
zero.  This  morning's  discourse,  which  was  a  clear  statement  of 
the  Unitarian  doctrine,  and  which  would  have  done  credit  to  any 
Eastern  preacher,  was  delivered  to  an  audience  of  twenty  in  a 
log  building,  witn  only  one  room  about  eighteen  by  twenty,  and 
occupied  by  two  families.  This  evening  Mr.  C.  preached  to  quite 
a  large  audience  at  the  town  of  Batavia,  in  the  Episcopal  church 
which  building  is  very  liberally  opened  to  his  use.  The  Unitarian 
doctrine,  though  slowly,  is  very  perceptibly  spreading  in  this  vi- 
cinity, but  the  greatest  fault  of  our  good  pastor  is,  that  he  blames 
himself  for  the  want  of  zeal  in  others,  not  considering  that  one  may 
plant  and  water,  but  cannot  regulate  the  size  of  the  tree  or  the 
rapidity  of  its  growth. 

(No  signature.) 

The  same  issue  of  the  Register  (April  1)  contained 
also  a  letter  from  "a  young  man"  of  Batavia,  in  behalf  of 
the  church  for  Mr.  Conant.  But  it  contains  nothing  not 
included  (substantially)  in  the  previous  quotations. 

In  the  Register  for  May  13,    1843,  is   the  following: 

UNITARIAN   SOCIETY  AT  GENEVA. 

Our  readers  will  be  pleased  to  hear  that  the  Rev.    Mr.  Conant, 
who  has  labored  long  and  faithfully   in  Geneva  and  its   neighbor- 


44  Historical  Sketch. 

hood  in  the  cause  of  'Christian  truth  and  holiness,  is  about  to  ex- 
perience a  very  gratifying  reward  of  his  labors  in  the  erection  of 
a  commodious  place  of  worship. 

On  the  first  of  the  month  the  ladies  of  Roxbury  held  a  fair,  at 
the  Hall  of  the  Norfolk  House,  with  the  express  purpose  of  aiding 
in  the  erection  of  the  Geneva  church.  There  was  evidence  of  a 
prevalent  desire  to  aid  in  the  promotion  of  a  purpose  so  benevolent 
and  praiseworthy.  A  large  company  assembled  and  gave  substan- 
tial testimony  of  their  interest  in  the  cause.  The  company  assem- 
bled was  addressed  by  Rev.  Messrs.  Putnam  and  Clarke,  and  by 
Hon.  J.  Chapman,  J.  C.  Park,  Esq.,  and  Mr.  Huidekoper,  who 
urged  the  importance  of  seconding  and  encouraging  the  efforts  of 
our  Western  brethren  for  the  erection  of  a  suitable  place  of 
worship. 

In  the  Register  of  August  19  are  printed  the  "Reso- 
lutions" of  the  Geneva  Society,  acknowledging  the  re- 
ceipt of  $800. 00,  and  signed  by  A.  H.  Conant,  S.  N. 
Clark,  and  S.  K.  Whiting. 

May  20,  1843,  Scotto  Clark,  Leonard  J.  Carr,  Amasa 
White,  Chas.  Patten  and  Samuel  K.  Whiting  were  appoint- 
ed a  building  committee;  C.  B.  Dodson  and  Peter  Sears, 
committee  to  solicit  contributions  from  Geneva  and  vicin- 
ity. There  is  no  record  of  the  laying  of  the  corner  stone, 
but  I  have  often  heard  Mrs.  Harriet  Patten  refer  to  the 
people  who  attended  the  ceremony  and  incidents  connected 
with  it.  Mrs.  Augustus  Conant  informs  us  that  there  is 
deposited  in  the  stone  a  sealed  box  containing  church  pa- 
pers to  date,  a  fact  which  should  be  borne  in  mind  if  this 
building  is  ever  removed.  There  are  some  faint  recollect- 
ions of  how  the  church  was  built  by  contributed  labor  as 
well  as  money;  the  Carr  brothers  leaving  their  farm 
work  to  haul  stone  and  Mr.  Conant  working  with  his 
hands  as  well  as  with  his  head  and  heart.  The  commun- 
ion table  he  made  is  still  preserved  in  a  private  house. 

Under  date  of  April  9,  1854,  is  a  record  covering 
the  time  from  January,  1843,  to  July,  1845,  which  sums 
up  the  account  for  the  building  which  cost  $954.  The 


Church  Building.  45 

over  the  $800  sent  from  Boston  being  credited  to 
subscriptions;  the  amount  raised  by  Messrs.  Dodson 
and  Sears,  it  is  to  be  inferred.  Under  date  of  December 
30,  1843,  it  is  recorded  that  Wednesday,  January  24, 
1844,  was  fixed  upon  as  the  day  for  dedicating  the  church. 
It  does  not  -appear  whether  it  was  occupied  then  for  the 
first  time. 

It  is  gratifying  to  note  that  at  this  meeting  it  was 
voted  "that  the  Rev.  Mr.  Alanson  (Episcopal  Clergyman) 
may  occupy  the  church  every  alternate  Sunday  in  the  ab- 
sence of  the  pastor. ' '  The  dedication  took  place  as  ar- 
ranged. According  to  the  record  the  Revs.  Walworth, 
Nicholsen  and  Harrington,  the  last  of  Chicago,  and  Mr. 
Arthur  B.  Fuller  of  Belvidere  took  part  in  the  exercises. 
The  sermon  was  preached  by  Mr.  Conant  from  the  text 
"Glory  to  God  in  the  highest  and  on  earth  peace,  good 
will  toward  men."  A  singularly  appropriate  text,  when 
we  remember  the  discomforts  of  previous  meeting  places, 
and  the  earnest  devotedness  of  some  of  the  people  which 
must  have  made  them  feel  that  "Glory  to  God!"  was  the 
truest  expression  of  their  feelings  of  triumph  and  joy  in 
their  own  consecrated  house  of  worship.  The  vote  be- 
fore its  dedication  to  offer  the  use  of  the  house  to  anoth- 
er denomination  gave  ample  proof  that  it  was  indeed  good 
will  toward  men  that  should  be  preached  within  its  walls 
in  deeds  as  well  as  words.  Original  hymns  were  contri- 
buted for  the  occasion  by  Isaac  McLellan  (a  minor  poet 
of  the  day)  and  Eben  Conant,  father  of  the  pastor. 

No  record  regarding  the  building  occurs  for  seven 
years,  when  there  is  a  call  for  an  estimate  for  painting 
and  other  repairs.  In  October,  1851,  is  the  first  entry  of 
funds  furnished  by  the  ladies  for  the  above  purpose. 

In  May,  1855  a  meeting  is  called  to  consider  the 
propriety  of  enlarging  the  church.  It  is  noted  that  "if 


4-6  Historical  Sketch. 

the  amount  of  $600  is  subscribed  we  shall  proceed  to  the 
enlargement  of  the  church  at  once. ' '  Luther  Dearborn, 
Chas.  Patten,  Wm.  LeBaron  and  C.  B.  Wells  are 
committee  on  soliciting  subscriptions.  In  one  week  the 
committee  reported  $565  raised  with  enough  in  prospect 
to  make  the  $600.  Wm.  LeBaron,  Jarvis  Danford,  Jos. 
Williams,  and  Eben  Conant  comprised  the  building  com- 
mittee. In  1856  the  account  for  building  purposes  is  re- 
corded as  $644.22. 

After  a  break  of  eighteen  years  a  meeting  was  called 
January  17,  1874,  at  which  a  committee  (S.  W.  Curtis, 
W.  W.  Ormsbee  and  W.  O.  Clark)  is  appointed  to  es- 
timate on  repairs  to  "make  the  church  comfortable."  On 
the  25th  at  another  meeting  the  committee  is  not  ready 
to  report  and  Miss  Rebecca. Eddowes  and  Miss  Esther  M. 
Orton  are  added  to  the  committee;  being  the  second  entry 
of  the  appointment  of  women'  on  church  business.  On 
the  26th  the  work  was  begun  which  resulted  in  replaster- 
ing  as  well  as  furring  the  walls  which  had  before  been 
plastered  on  the  stone;  wainscoting,  new  floor,  new  en- 
trance, new  book  cases,  new  carpet,  new  platform  and 
new  chandeliers  were  put  in  and  the  Sunday  School  met 
on  April  19.  The  cost  was  $1054. 02,  to  which  the  Unity 
church  of  Chicago  gave  $100  and  Mrs.  Eben  Conent  $100, 
A  two  days  meeting  was  held  April  21  and  22  to  cele- 
brate the  reopening  at  which  the  Revs.  Balch  of  Elgin, 
Gorton  of  Aurora,  Hunting  of  Davenport,  Iowa,  G.  W. 
Fatten,  G.  W.  Cooke  and  Hewitt  of  Oak  Park  and  Steb- 
bins  of  Ithaca,  N.  Y.,  were  present.  In  August,  1879,  a 
meeting  was  called  to  consider  the  matter  of  reseating  the 
church  which  resulted  in  securing  $459  for  that  purpose. 
October  5,  1879,  a  vote  of  thanks  is  recorded  to  Walter 
D.  and  Maria  C.  (LeBaron)  Turner  for  the  gift  of  windows. 
In  1891  the  platform  was  altered,  the  church  recarpeted 


Pastor  ate*.  Ifl 

and  papered,  and  a  chimney  added  to    the  west  end,    at  a 
cost  of  $255. 


Up  to  the  present  time  seven  ministers  have  been 
regularly  employed  as  pastors,  their  combined  time  of 
service  amounting  to  thirty-six  years.  Of  these  Mr.  Con- 
ant  occupied  sixteen,  Mr.  Woodward  three  and  one-third, 
your  historian  four,  Mr.  Herbert  six,  Mr.  West  three 
and  one-half,  Mr.  Byrnes  three.  One  term  of  regu- 
lar lay  service  for  six  months  and  another  of  a  year 
have  been  maintained.  These  with  the  two  periods  of  six 
months  each  of  regular  supply  by  Mr.  Hibbard  of  the 
Universalist  church  of  Aurora,  with  the  other  occasional 
supplies  make  it  safe  to  say  that  services  have  been  kept 
up  forty  years  of  the  fifty.  There  are  two  breaks  in  the 
record,  one  of  six  years  from  1856  to  1862,  and  one  of 
two  years  from  1880  to  1882,  in  which  no  record  is  kept; 
though  in  1862  Dr.  LeBaron  sums  up  the  pulpit  record 
for  the  time.  - 

The  principal  events  of  Mr.  Coiiant's  time  are  so 
fully  treated  in  the  paper  of  Miss  LeBaron  that  but  little 
is  left  to  mention  here.  I  note  that  fifty-eight  names 
were  -signed  during  his  pastorate. 

Of  Mr.  Woodward's  pastorate  the  records  show  that 
he  came  to  Geneva  in  connection  with  other  business. 
After  Mr.  Conant  removed  to  Rockford  in  July,  1857, 
Mr.  Woodward  volunteered  to  supply  the  pulpit  during 
the  autumn  and  apart  of  the  winter.  In  march,  1858  he 
was  invited  to  take  the  office  of  pastor,  which  he  retained 
till  January  1,  1862.  As  there  are  no  records  made  dur- 
ing this  time,  I  have  tried  to  get  some  idea  of  the  nature 
of  the  work  done  in  the  church,  and  find  that  Mr.  Wood- 
ward's work  seems  to  have  been  largely  in  a  social  way 


48  Historical  /Sketch. 

among  the  younger  people. 

The  society  held  lay  services  till  June,  1862,  when 
they  listened  to  Rev.  A.  H.  Hibbard  of  the  Universalist 
church  of  Aurora  and  made  an  engagement  with  him  to 
supply  the  pulpit  on  alternate  Sundays.  This  engage- 
ment could  only  be  fulfilled  during  the  summer,  as  the 
distance  and  the  state  of  the  roads  prevented  its  being 
carried  on  in  winter. 

During  the  winter  of  1862  and  1863  the  pulpit  was 
supplied  by  Rev.  J.  B.  C.  Beaubien,  a  Presbyterian 
clergyman  who  had  been  born  in  the  Catholic  church. 

Soon  after  Scotto  Clark's  family  swarmed  from  the 
West  church  of  Boston  to  found  this  tabernacle  in  north- 
eastern Illinois,  another  family,  whose  connection  had 
been  with  the  First  Unitarian  church  of  Philadelphia,  was 
settling  over  in  the  northwestern  corner  of  the  state  at  Ga- 
lena. On  one  of  his  missionary  trips  Mr.  Conant  went  as 
far  as  Galena  and  made  the  acquaintance  of  this  family. 
He  held  a  service  in  their  parlor  to  which  were  summoned 
all  such  as  were  supposed  or  known  to  be  interested  in 
such  preaching.  The  youngest  member  of  the  family 
stood  at  his  mother's  knee  through  the  service,  and  has 
to-day  a  recollection  of  the  little,  ruddy  faced  man,  stand- 
ing behind  a  light  stand  with  a  bible  and  two  tallow  can- 
dles, in  brass  candle  sticks,  upon  it,  and  wondering  what  it 
all  meant.  It  was  through  the  endeavors  of  this  family  to 
start  a  Unitarian  church  in  Galena,  that  Mr.  Woodward 
was  induced  to  come  to  Illinois.  It  was  a  hard  struggle 
which  ended  in  failure  to  accomplish  that  object.  It  was 
largely  through  the  good  offices  of  Mr.  Woodward's 
family,  though  they  were  not  residing  here  at  the  time, 
that  the  boy  who  stood  at  his  mother's  knee  through  that 
missionary  service,  was  installed  as  the  successor  of  Mr. 
Conant  and  Mr.  Woodward  in  1865.  His  life  since 


Pastorates.  Ifl 

that  time  has  been  so  intimately  connected  with  the  society 
that  the  office  of  historian  on  this  occasion  falls  naturally 
to  him. 

I  found  the  church  blooming  in  a  new  coat  of  paint 
on  the  inside,  the  ground  newly  enclosed  on  the  outside 
and  a  warm  welcome  awaiting  me.  In  some  ways,  Sep- 
tember, 1865  was  an  interesting  time  to  take  up  church 
work.  The  date  amply  indicates  the  political  situation, 
while  in  denominational  circles  the  smoke  of  the  great 
battle  between  radical  and  conservative  Unitarians  had 
hardly  cleared  away.  My  ordination  was  the  first  in  the 
history  of  the  society.  Robert  Collyer  and  C.  A.  Staples 
with  D.  M.  Reed  a  Universalist  from  Rockford,  took  all 
the  parts  between  them,  Mr.  Staples  preaching  the  ser- 
mon, Mr.  Collyer  giving  the  ordaining  prayer  and  right 
hand,  Mr.  Reed  the  charge  to  the  candidate.  The  engage- 
ment was  renewed  for  three  years  successively;  then  there 
was  a  year's  absence  and  another  year's  engagement. 

As  the  summing  up  of  my  work,  I  think  I  may  say 
that  the  society  was  guided  into  the  ranks  of  the  progress- 
ive Unitarianism,  and  that  the  Sunday  School  library  was 
made  an  efficient  arm  of  the  services.  My  last  sermon  as 
pastor  was  given  in  November,  1870. 

In  June,  1874,  Mr.  Herbert  first  came  among  us.  He 
came  to  the  newly  renovated  church  and  by  his  inspiring 
pulpit  ministrations  held  the  best  audience  since  Mr.  Co- 
nant's  time  and  commanded  a  larger  salary  than  was  paid 
before  or  since  his  day.  He  had  a  great  hold  on  the 
floating  element  with  the  peculiarties  of  his  manner,  the 
quaintness  of  his  style,  his  deep  religious  fervor,  and  the 
practical  value  of  his  thought.  The  social  life  of  the  so- 
ciety received  an  impetus  from  the  increase  in  numbers 
which  it  has  not  maintained  since  his  day.  In  1879  be- 
gan one  of  those  periodic  times  that  have  come  too  often, 


50  Historical  Sketch. 

when  death  and  removals  from  town  made  a  diminution 
in  our  ranks,  which  was  greater  than  the  accessions,  and 
in  1880  it  was  found  that  the  society  must  give  Mr.  Her- 
bert up  to  a  louder  call  and  a  wider  field  at  Denver.-  His 
six  years  stay  and  growing  reputation  brought  us  attend- 
ants from  Batavia  and  St.  Charles  and  the  country  around 
which  his  successors  have  not  been  able  to  retain. 

After  an  interval  of  three  years  and  seven  months  from 
the  time  of  Mr.  Herbert's  departure,  Mr.  West  came  to 
us  full  of  life  and  energy,  in  February,  1884.  The  de- 
pression which  had  followed  Mr.  Herbert's  going,  had 
given  place  to  a  conviction  that  it  was  necessary  to  hold 
on  to  what  we  had  if  we  were  to  keep  from  complete  dis- 
integration, and  a  period  of  church  life  began  which  was 
a  turning  over  of  a  new  leaf.  We  made  a  more  system- 
atic effort  to  live  up  to  our  ethical  standards  and  denomin- 
ational convictions.  Under  the  stimulus  of  Mr.  West's 
preaching  we  were  unanimous  in  our  desire  to  revise 
the  declaration  and  constitution  which  resulted  in  the 
present  form  of  those  documents.  The  old  style  of  annu- 
al meetings,  a  fifteen  or  thirty  minutes'  session  after  the 
morning  session,  at  which  officers  were  elected,  was 
changed  for  the  parish  reunion  with  an  early  tea  and  a  bus- 
iness meeting,  where  we  not  only  elected  officers  and  at- 
tended to  the  finances,  but  appointed  committees  for  ethi- 
cal work  and  heard  reports  from  such  as  well  as  from  the 
pastor,  Sunday  School  Superintendent,  chairmen  of  com- 
mittees, etc.  We  had  also  the  first  of  the  study  classes 
under  the  minister's  leadership.  Altogether,  though  the 
work  done  at  the  time  seemed  small  as  compared  with 
that  done  by  more  flourishing  churches,  it  had  a  respecta- 
ble result  in  proportion  that  was  a  satisfaction  to  recall  in 
the  days  when  less  was  accomplished.  Forty  names  were 
added  to  the  church  roll  during  Mr.  West's  administra- 


By   The   Way.  51 

tion.  It  is  but  just,  however,  to  state  that  more  than  half 
were  names  that  ought  to  have  been  subscribed  years  be- 
fore. Another  marked  feature  of  Mr.  West's  ministry 
was  the  interest  he  awakened  in  our  neighboring  village 
of  La  Fox.  For  two  seasons  of  good  roads  and  weather 
he  held  afternoon  service  there,  which  resulted  in  devel- 
oping an  interest  that  was  shown  in  the  generous,  finan- 
cial aid  they  gave  to  his  support  for  two  years.  His  let- 
ter of  resignation,  dated  June  19,  1887,  was  accepted  on 
the  26th  of  that  month. 

The  most  remarkable  item  in  connection  with  the  en- 
gagement of  Mr.  Byrnes  is,  that,  instead  of  waiting  three 
years,  more  or  less,  the  society  engaged  him  in  three 
months  after  Mr.  West  left.  He  began  his  work  in 
October,  1887,  and  finished  it  in  June,  1890.  He  was 
ordained  in  February,  1888,  being  the  second  occasion  of 
that  kind  in  the  history  of  the  society.  The  participants 
were  Revs.  Geo.  Batchelor,  Chester  Covell,  J.  LI.  Jones, 
James  Vila  Blake  and  J.  R.  Effinger.  The  methods 
adopted  under  Mr.  West  were  kept  up.  The  circumstan- 
ces of  the  society  as  to  attendance  and  finances  remained 
very  much  the  same,  so  that  I  find  nothing  special  to  note 
of  these  three  ministerial  years. 

In  January,  1892,  the  present  incumbent  came  to 
us,  and  the  results  of  his  work  must  be  summed  up  by 
your  centennial  historian,  or  better  still,  at  the  seventy- 
fifth  anniversary. 


It  is  to  be  noted  that  the  peculiarity  in  our  history  as 
compared  with  that  of  the  Unitarian  churches  of  similar 
age  is,  that  those  at  Chicago,  Quincy,  St.  Louis,  Cincin- 
nati and  Louisville  struck  what  proved  to  be  metropolitan 
points.  Whether  the  pioneers  ever  expected  Geneva  to 


52  Historical  Sketch. 

equal  them  in  its  development  we  cannot  tell,  but  certain- 
ly they  must  have  had  hope  of  a  greater  growth  than  that 
which  amounts  to  a  place  of  less  than  two  thousand  souls 
more  than  fifty  years  after  its  founding. 

When  we  look  for  the  results  of  early  missionary 
work  in  the  other  small  places  in  this  state,  and  adjoining 
ones,  we  find  now  mostly  "burnt  over"  spots.  Dixon, 
Como,  Sterling,  Lockport,  Elgin,  Joliet,  Belvidere,  Ga- 
lena, Hillsboro  and  Tremont  are  places  in  Illinois  where 
attempts  were  made  to  start  Unitarian  churches.  With 
the  exception  of  Tremont  there  is  nothing  left  I  think  in 
any  of  those  organizations  to-day.  Elgin,  Joliet  and 
Dixon  have  Universalist  churches  to  represent  the  liberal 
element.  In  all  of  them,  unless  it  were  Como  and  Tre- 
mont, Unitarians  had  to  contend  with  other  denomina- 
tions that  were  already  organized.  Our  peculiarity  is, 
that  we  were  the  first  on  the  ground  and  it  is  largely 
owing  to  that  fact  I  think,  that  we  are  in  existence  to-day. 

Another  circumstance  which  I  think  has  helped  to 
keep  us  alive  is  the  smallness  of  our  population.  We 
were  undoubtedly  the  leading  church  for  the  first  ten  or 
fifteen  years  of  the  town's  existence,  and  through  the  ex- 
ceptional qualities  of  the  founders,  achieved  and  kept  a 
respect  for  and  sympathy  with  the  society,  which  might 
have  been  lost  in  a  larger  influx  of  orthodox  people.  To- 
day we  are  so  much  of  an  influence  in  the  thought  of  the 
community  that  it  is  a  mitigated,  if  not  a  progressive,  Or- 
thodoxy that  flourishes  best  in  our  atmosphere. 

In  studying  the  society's  record  for  materials  for  this 
paper,  one  is  disappointed  to  find  that  the  earlier  secreta- 
ries found  so  little  worth  recording  beside  the  election  of 
officers  and  the  financial  standing  at  the  end  of  each  year. 
The  absence  of  those  items  that  would  show  the  history 
of  the  society's  work  in  various  ways  is  particularly  mark- 


By  The  Way.  53 

ed  in  the  intervals  between  the  pastorates.  Yet  there 
were  no  more  active  periods  on  the  part  of  the  earnest 
members,  than  these  times. 

In  the  interim  of  1862  to  1865  a  large  part  of  the  so- 
ciety's life  was  given  to  work  for  the  Sanitary  Commis- 
sion. During  that  of  1870  to  1874  the  Sunday  School  was 
kept  up  in  such  an  active  and  earnest  way  as  to  win  the 
sympathy  and  respect  of  all  concerned,  the  special  ser- 
vices of  Christmas  and  Flower  Sunday  being  of  the  great- 
est success.  It  was  in  the  last  year  of  this  period  that 
Miss  Esther  M.  Orton  and  Miss  Rebecca  Eddowes  deter- 
mined that  the  building  should  be  renovated,  and  by 
their  efforts  in  various  ways,  by  January,  1874,  had  rais- 
ed $150  for  that  purpose.  There  is  record  of  a  meeting 
held  that  month  to  appoint  a  committee  to  make  estimates 
as  to  what  amount  was  necessary  to  make  the  church  com- 
fortable. Later,  at  a  meeting  called  to  hear  the  report  of 
the  committee,  Miss  Eddowes  and  Miss  Orton  were  added 
to  the  committee.  It  strikes  your  historian  that  the  un- 
written history  of  the  matter  would  justify  me  in  saying 
that  the  committee  were  added  to  the  above  mentioned 
ladies,  as  by  their  further  efforts  $1,054  was  raised  and 
the  repairs  completed  by  the  middle  of  the  April  follow- 
ing. The  story  of  the  raising  of  the  funds  ought  to  be 
told  by  some  one  having  the  talents  of  Edward  Everett 
Hale  for  showing  how  improbable  things  happen  in  a 
probable  way.  The  account  of  the  way  in  which  the 
enthusiasm  spread  from  one  to  another  until  Mrs.  Polly 
Conant  (widow  of  Eben  Conant)  gave  $100  and  the  Uni- 
ty church  of  Chicago  $100  is  well  worth  hearing.  The 
names  of  Thomas  J.  Clark  and  S.  W.  Curtis,  who  were  of 
our  membership  of  the  spirit,  should  be  mentioned  as 
those  of  the  two  men  who  stood  most  gallantly  by  the  la- 
dies. 


54-  Historical  Sketch. 

So  whatever  have  been  the  intervals  of  time  between 
pastorates  this  has  never  beer  a  dead  church.  It  cannot 
indeed  be  said  to  have  even  had  periods  of  suspended  ani- 
mation. The  fire  on  the  church  hearth  may  have  been 
low  at  times,  but  there  has  always  been  some  friendly 
hand  to  draw  the  coals  together  and  keep  the  life  in 
them  till  the  right  time  came  to  let  the  air  in  upon  them. 
When  a  little  more  fuel  has  been  needed  to  keep  the  flame 
alive,  it  has  been  mostly  woman's  hand  that  has  brought 
it.  When  the  flame  has  burned  merrily  and  the  society 
has  basked  in  the  glow  of  prosperity,  it  has  been  mostly 
woman's  breath  that  has  fanned  the  flame  to  its  greater 
life. 

The  record  does  not  do  full  justice  to  the  part  wom- 
an has  borne  in  keeping  up  the  society,  but  it  is  a  satis- 
faction to  note,  the  first  name  of  a  woman  who  was  offici- 
ally appointed  in  the  society  is  that  of  Mrs.  Samuel  Clark. 
She  was  placed  upon  an  advisory  committee  which  was 
meant  to  be  a  sort  of  pastor's  cabinet.  The  next  official 
mention  is  of  the  appointment  of  Miss  Eddowes  and  Miss 
Orton  on  the  committee  for  repairing  in  1874.  In  1890 
Mrs.  Julia  C.  Blackman  presided  at  the  annual  meeting 
and  Mrs.  Julia  Plato  Harvey  was  elected  chairman  of 
trustees,  and  in  1892  Miss  E.  H.  Long  was  chosen  treas- 
urer. Other  women  have  been  appointed  on  different 
committees  for  the  church  work  since1  the  adoption  of 
ethical  work  in  1885;  these  are  the  first  officers. 

It  was  under  Mrs  Harvey's  efficient  chairmanship 
that  the  most  successful  term  of  lay  service,  covering 
eight  months,  was  sustained,  and  in  connection  with  Mrs. 
A.  O.  Hoyt  and  Mrs.  H.  Medora  Long,  that  the  latest 
renovation  of  our  church  interior  was  so  tastefully  carried 
out. 

It  is  further  to  be  noted    that  this  has   always  been  a 


By  The  Way.  55 

harmonious  church.  The  article  of  our  declaration  which 
says  that  we  have  associated  ourselves  together,  not  as 
agreeing  in  opinion,  has  been  well  lived  up  to,  as  there 
have  been  differences  of  opinion  among  us  and  serious 
ones  too;  but  there  has  never  been  a  church  quarrel  about 
them.  We  have  had  no  factions  to  divide  us.  Although 
Mr.  Conant,  after  sixteen  years  of  devotion  to  this  church 
and  the  cause,  left  it  mainly  on  account  of  difference  of 
opinion  on  political  subjects,  yet  I  have  never  heard  that 
there  was  anything  that  might  be  called  a  personal  bitter- 
ness called  out  by  it.  I  suspect  that  his  was  a  nature  as 
incapable  of  exciting  such  a  feeling  as  of  retaining  it.  I 
know,  that  when  some  years  later  six  or  seven  families 
withdrew  from  my  ministration  for  similar  reasons,  that 
there  was  nothing  of  the  kind  between  them  and  myself. 
It  was  an  honest  difference  of  opinion,  and  their  with- 
drawing until  such  time  as  another  should  fill  my  place, 
was  a  wise  and  wholesome  thing  to  do.  Since  that  time 
I  have  found  that  there  was  never  a  break  in  the  mutual 
personal  regard  we  had  for  each  other,  and  we  have  stood 
shoulder  to  shoulder,  working  for  the  cause  and  the 
church  with  never  a  thought  of  the  past  to  disturb  our 
harmony.  I  trust  that  this  reference  to  bygones  is  not 
ungracious,  but  I  could  not  find  a  better  illustration  of  the 
fine  unity  of  the  spirit  that  underlies  the  agreement  to  dis- 
agree. 

We  have  always  been  an  honest  church.  It  is  a  mat- 
ter of  pride  and  satisfaction  that  we  can  say  that  the 
church  has  never  been  in  debt.  I  have  already  mention- 
ed that  it  is  somewhat  of  an  aggravation  that  the  earlier 
records  should  be  so  largely  confined  to  financial  matters, 
but  this  very  explanation  of  all  things  else,  seems  to  show 
how  dear  the  honesty  of  the  society  was  in  those  days;  it 
is  to  be  inferred  that  they  considered  keeping  out  of  debt 


56  Historical  /Sketch. 

the  chief  end  of  the  society.  There  is  more  than  one 
mention  of  a  deficiency,  and  the  appointment  of  com- 
mittees to  raise  funds,  but  there  is  no  record  of  a  deficien- 
cy that  was  not  met,  and  no  appointment  of  committees 
to  raise  funds  for  debts  which  had  been  contracted  beyond 
the  society's  ability  to  pay. 


WRITTEN  FOR  THE   OCCASION  BY   JAMES  H.  WEST,  PASTOR  FROM 

1884  TO  1887. 

O  TEMPLE  sacred  to  the  Past, 

And  sacred  to  the  Present  too! 
Toy  walls,  which  Fifty  Years  outlast, 

To-day  we  consecrate  anew: 
Anew  to  God,  anew  to  Man, 

To  Love,  to  Helpfulness,  to  Truth; 
While  more  in  each  of  these  we  scan 

Than  those  who  knew  thee  in  thy  youth. 

Oh,  blest  that  as  the  centuries  fly 

Man's  soul  doth  deeper,  higher  roam! 
Yet  feels  the  more  that  earth  and  sky 

Are  but  a  vaster  temple-home: 
Temple  that  needs  no  sun  to  thrill, 

So  grand  its  inner,  fadeless  Light; 
The  Godlike  in  the  human  still 

Redeeming  it  from  evil  plight. 

Honor  be  thine,  O  walls  grown  gray, 

That  Freedom  here  was  ever  given 
To  prophet-souls  to  point  the  way 

To  higher  God  and  higher  heaven. 
With  Freedom  still  thy  Word  be  twined, 

O  reverend  aisles,  to  us  so  dear! 
And  other  Fifty  Years  still  find 

The  voice  of  Progress  echoing  here. 

Above  the  clamors  of  our  day, 

Which  fain  would  drown  the  still  small  voice, 
We  hear  a  mightier  Presence  say, 

Rejoice,  O  sons  of  men!  Rejoice! 
Be  open  still  to  prophets'  cry; 

Go  on  to  keener  insight  yet! 
Much  still  remains  of  Deep  and  High 

Ere  suns  and  stars  of  God  are  set. 


OF  THE  FIRST  PASTOR,    REV.    A.    H.     CONANT,    BY    MISS  FRANCES 
LE  BARON  OF  ELGIN,    ILL. 

I  accepted  this  position  on  the  program  with  much 
reluctance,  for  I  knew  that  there  were  others  who  could 
write  this  memorial  in  a  more  scholarly  way;  but  when  I 
considered  that  it  would  give  me  an  opportunity  to  ex- 
press my  deep  love  for  the  man  and  my  intense  gratitude 
for  the  blessed  privilege  it  was  to  sit  under  his  ministra- 
tions, I  felt  I  had  no  right  to  refuse.  Often  in  my  mis- 
sionary work,  I  have  received  letters  from  those  of  our 
own  faith  who  have  spent  their  childhood  surrounded  by 
strict  Calvinists,  who  had  to  stay  away  from  church  and 
Sunday  School,  or  go  where  they  were  labored  over  as 
surely  among  the  lost,  and  were  forced  to  listen  to  doc- 
trines from  which  their  souls  revolted.  These  experien- 
ces have  made  me  realize  my  early  privileges,  and  have 
given  me  an  almost  painfully  intense  feeling  of  grati- 
tude, to  Mr.  Conant  and  the  nucleus  who  organized 
this  church  and  gave  me  the  blessing,  accorded  to  so 
few  in  this  western  world,  of  growing  up  in  an  atmos- 
phere of  freedom,  where  I  need  not  believe  a  thing  be- 
cause I  was  told  to  do  so  and  on  pain  of  everlasting  tor- 
ment if  I  could  not  believe. 

In  a  letter  to  Rev.  James  Freeman  Clarke  under  date 


Auun*tu*  fjj.  ©ottttttt. 


Of  The  First  Pastor.  61 

of  May  30,  1842,  while  organizing  this  society,  Mr.  Con- 
ant  says:  "It  is  a  day  of  small  things,  but  even  these 
small  things  are  full  of  promise.  May  we  not  hope  they 
are  the  germs  of  a  greatness  that  shall  yet  be  commensu- 
rate with  the  religious  wants  of  a  great  people  ?"  Though 
this  greatness,  as  far  as  Geneva  is  concerned,  is  not  visi- 
ble in  brick  and  stone,  nor  in  silver  and  gold,  it  is  visi- 
ble in  the  hundreds,  perhaps  thousands  of  lives  that  have 
gone  out  from  this  town,  lightened  from  the  dark  cloud  of 
Calvinistic  theology  by  the  reasonable  religion  preached 
in  this  little  church,  by  the  high,  spiritual  teachings,  empha- 
sized as  they  were  by  the  noble  and  beautiful  lives  of  its 
members,  which  have  permeated  every  family  in  the 
town.  My  subject  is  properly  Mr.  Conant,  the  man  and 
the  minister,  and  I  leave  the  consideration  of  his  mission- 
ary labors  more  especially  to  Rev.  Lorenzo  Kelsey, 
his  brother-in-law,  and  co-laborer;  and  his  army  life  to 
Col.  J.  C.  Long,  who  was  with  him. 

Mr.  Conant  was  rather  below  medium  height,  but  in 
his  pulpit  one  lost  that  impression  from  the  earnestness 
and  intensity  of  his  manner  and,  as  the  high  and  noble 
thoughts  came  pouring  forth  in  terse,  vigorous,  pointed 
sentences,  the  whole  man  seemed  to  rise  to  the  occasion 
and  his  audience  gave  no  thought  to  his  stature.  No  mat- 
ter if  the  first  impression  was  unfavorable,  he  soon  swept 
that  away  by  his  zeal,  his  genuineness,  his  self-forgetful- 
ness.  One  story  is  told  of  him  when  preaching  in  Boston. 
He  was  for  a  moment  almost  overwhelmed  by  the  impos- 
ing church  and  the  large  audience,  all  of  them  strangers, 
but,  recovering  himself  he  said:  "You  have  probably 
noticed  my  embarrassment,  but  you  will  pleas"e  remember 
that  I  am  not  used  to  so  large  a  church  and  so  many  peo- 
ple. I  am  in  the  habit  of  preaching  to  a  few  people  in 
log  school  houses  and  backwoods  parlors. ' '  The  people 


62  Character  Sketch. 

all  Smiled  and,  as  he  felt  the  sympathy  of  his  audience, 
his  embarrassment  disappeared. 

Another  picture  we  have  of  him  among  the  Eastern 
friends  comes  from  Mrs.  Eastman,  sister  of  Charles  and 
George  Patten  and  Mrs.  Samuel  Clark.  In  a  Better  writ- 
ten to  Mrs.  Cleveland,  now  Mrs.  Wm.  Conant,  under  date 
of  Roxbury,  June  7,  1846,  she  says:  "I  wish  you  could 
have  been  here  to  see  what  a  general  favorite  Mr.  Conant 
is  in  this  region,  and  how  admirably  he  appears,  even  in 
our  highest  places;  for  instance,  at  Chauncey  Place  giving 
the  Thursday  lecture,  that  most  venerable  institution  where 
the  clergy  from  Boston  and  neighboring  towns  assemble 
every  week  to  hear  each  other  preach.  The  construction 
of  the  church  is  peculiar,  and  the  light  in  which  the 
preacher  stands  very  favorable  and  Mr.  Conant  looked 
large  as  life  and  like  one  inspired.  He  was  entirely  free 
from  embarrassment  and  positively  graceful  in  his  oratory 
His  subject  was,  'The  Condition  and  Wants  of  the  West. ' 
You  would  all  have  been  proud  of  such  an  advocate.  I 
think  he  must  be  exalted  a  little  in  self  esteem  from  his 
remarkably  favorable  reception  here  and  that  will  do  him 
no  harm.  I  must  tell  you  the  remark  of  an  eccentric  but 
excellent  lady,  when  Mr.  Conant  preached  for  Mr. 
Putnam.  After  service  she  came  to  me  and  said,  'Well, 
if  this  is  a  specimen  of  your  western  pets,  I  should  like  to 
see  more  of  them. '  Mr.  Putnam  was  much  pleased  with 
him  which  we  think  no  small  praise." 

When,  at  the  age  of  thirty-one  years,  he  began  his 
ministrations  in  Geneva  he  was  so  boyish  in  his  appear- 
ance that  Mr.  Scotto  Clark  thought  him  some  young  boy  of 
the  neighborhood  and  had  grave  doubts  as  to  his  ministe- 
rial ability,  but  when  he  heard  him  preach  his  doubts  van- 
ished and  he  said  sometime  later,  when  arranging  for  his 
salary:  "We  are  glad  to  have  you  among  us  and,  though 


Of  The  Firxt  Paxtor.  63 

we  cannot  give  you  much  money,  we  will  try  to  give  you 
plenty  of  bread  and  butter."  One  is  reminded  of  this  re- 
mark when,  in  looking  over  his  journal  of  amounts  receiv- 
ed, we  find  "cash"  occasionally,  but  more  often  such  en- 
tries as  these:  "Rented  Squire  Miller's  house  for  $50  a 
year  and  call  his  subscription  to  the  church  paid;  bought 
of  Mr.  B.,  on  account, /two  bushels  buckwheat  at  75  cents; 
of  Mr,  0.,  13  pounds  butter  at  8  cents,  $1.04;"  and  so 
on.  It  was  at  this  time  that  he  said  to  his  wife,  "1  am 
willing  to  make  a  ten  years'  trial  of  preaching  and  if  I 
fail,  I  will  seek  some  other  employment,"  but  she  never 
heard  him  express  any  desire  to  give  it  up. 

He  was  very  methodical  in  all  he  did  and  his  class- 
mates at  Cambridge  remember  the  amount  of  work  he  ac- 
complished by  utilizing  every  moment.  It  seems  almost 
incredible  the  amount  of  practical  work  he  did  in  Geneva 
in  addition. to  his  pulpit  and  pastoral  duties.  He  was  a 
natural  mechanic  and  helped  with  his  own  hands  on  the 
carpenter  work  of  this  building.  He  made  furniture  at 
odd  moments,  not  only  for  his  own  family  but  as  gifts  for 
his  parishioners. 

It  was  never  necessary  for  him  to  go  to  Europe,  or 
to  go  out  camping  for  his  vacation.  He  rested  from  his 
mental  labors  by  contact  with  Mother  Earth,  working  on 
his  farm  and  in  his  garden  day  by  day.  That  he  could 
combine  pleasure  and  rest  in  this  way  was  most  fortunate, 
as  it  enabled  him  to  aid  very  materially  in  keeping  the  wolf 
from  the  door  by  supplementing  with  the  fruits  of  his  garden 
the  meagre  income  of  $200  or  $300,  which  was  all  the  peo- 
ple could  raise  during  most  of  his  pastorate.  He  also  in- 
structed his  sonsiri  the  pleasures  and  profits  of  rural  labor, 
and  one  interesting  story  is  told  of  a  bit  of  family  discipline 
in  this  connection.  One  warm  day,  when  he  and  his  two 
sons  were  working  in  the  garden,  one  of  them  complained 


64  Character  Sketch. 

of  his  hard  lot  in  having  to  work,  when  his  companions 
were  off  playing.  Mr.  Conant  sympathized  with  him  and 
sent  him  into  the  house  for  a  chair  and  an  umbrella.  All 
the  rest  of  the  afternoon  he  had  to  sit  in  the  chair  with  the 
umbrella  over  his  head,  while  his  father  and  brother 
went  on  with  their  work.  It  seemed  to  him  that  there 
never  was  such  a  long  afternoon  and  that  his  father  never 
had  so  many  callers,  who  had  to  come  to  the  garden  to  see 
him,  and  we  venture  to  say  he  never  complained  again  of 
having  to  work  too  hard. 

That  he  was  a  dear  lover  of  children  their  strong  love 
for  him  proves,  and  many  of  his  sermons  were  to,  or 
about  them,  showing  his  thorough  sympathy  with  them. 
He  says:  "In  the  deep  interest  we  take  in  the  accom- 
plishment of  our  own  schemes,  in  the  magnitude  of  im- 
portance which  they  assume  to  our  minds,  we  are  in  great 
danger  of  overlooking  the  interests  of  others  and  espec- 
ially of  little  children.  We  are  in  danger  of  esteeming 
their  affairs  of  little  consequence,  of  doing  them  injustice 
by  disregarding  the  importance  of  their  employments  and 
amusements,  by  a  want  of  sympathy  with  their  plans  and 
purposes,  their  desires  and  efforts,  their  hopes  and  fears. 
We  are  in  danger  of  undervaluing  the  importance  of  those 
circumstances  and  influences  which  form  the  opinions, 
habits  and  character  of  the  infancy  of  manhood,  of  neg 
lecting  the  intellectual  and  moral  education  of  children. 
Against  this  danger  we  have  need  to  be  on  our  guard. 

We  ought  to  remember  that  they  have  like 
capacities  and  powers  and  affections  to  our  own.  That  in 
their  little  world  they  have  their  trials  and  conflicts  and 
temptations,  their  hopes  and  fears,  joys  and  sorrows,  as 
much  as  those  who  live  in  the  great  world  above  them. 
That  they  are  experiencing,  in  the  main,  the  same  disci- 
pline and  learning  the  same  lessons  with  those  who  are 


Of  The  First  Pastor.  65 

older  and,  in  fact,  are  but  a  few  steps  behind  us  in  the 
endless  path  of  knowledge  and  improvement.  We  laugh 
at  their  toys  and  despise  their  ignorance  and  simplicity, 
and  the  vanity  of  their  pursuits,  and  think  not  that,  in 
the  eye  of  a  more  perfect  Wisdom,  our  own  ignorance  and 
folly  are  as  strikingly  apparent."  This  was  written  at  a 
time  when  children  were  kept  out  of  sight,  were  severely, 
often  cruelly  disciplined  and  before  the  dawn  of  the  pres- 
ent period  of  autocratic  children  and  obedient,  or  disobe- 
dient parents. 

His  sympathy  with  children  was  only  a  part  of  the 
large-hearted  sympathy  for  the  whole  human  race,  and 
the  animal  kingdom  as  well,  that  was  one  of  the  most 
marked  characteristics  of  his  nature.  It  was  this,  com- 
bined with  his  entire  forgetfulness  of  self,  that  drew  peo- 
ple so  strongly  to  him,  that  made  every  one  respond  when 
he  appealed  for  help  in  his  missionary  work,  and  that 
called  about  him  little  groups  of  parishioners  in  a  dozen 
or  more  towns  in  Northern  Illinois  and  Southern  Wiscon- 
sin. If  only  more  such  devoted  spirits  could  have  been 
found  to  foster  the  germs  that  he  brought  to  life  the  liber- 
al cause  would  have  flourished  amain,  but  such  spirits  are 
rare,  and  the  seed  he  planted  in  some  places  lacked  nour- 
ishment. 

Mr.  Conant  was  generous  to  a  fault,  and  many  are 
the  stories  told  of  him  to  illustrate  this  characteristic. 
When  he  came  to  Geneva  with  his  wife  and  two  sons,  he 
could  find  no  abiding  place  except  two  rooms  in  Mrs. 
Herrington's  house,  that  stood  by  the  spring  near  which 
Mrs.  Thad.  Herrington's  house  now  stands.  For  these  he 
paid  $2  a  month.  In  a  day  or  two  he  found  a  man  who, 
with  his  wife  and  child,  could  not  afford  to  pay  any  rent, 
and  he  gave  them  the  use  of  one  of  the  rooms. 

A  poor  cobbler  came  to  Geneva  after  they  had  set- 


66  Character  Sketch. 

tied  in  their  own  place,  and  Mr.  Conant  built  him  a  house 
with  his  own  hands,  found  him  work  and  looked  after  and 
helped  him  as  long  as  he  lived.  One  evening  he  came 
home  late  to  tea,  looking  flushed  and  heated,  and  explained 
that  he  had  been  splitting  some  tough  knots  of  wood  for 
a  poor  widow  who  needed  the  fuel.  When  cloth  was 
sent  him  for  a  suit  of  clothes,  he  took  half  for  a  coat  and 
sent  the  other  half  to  a  neighboring  minister  who  needed 
help.  Rev.  Rush  R.  Shippen  recalls  that,  when  a  student 
at  Cambridge,  a  friend  gave  him  some  handsome  cloth 
for  a  coat  which  he  took  to  a  tailor  and  exchanged  for 
more  yards  of  an  inferior  quality,  that  he  might  give  a 
coat  to  a  fellow  student  who  was  in  need.  Also,  that 
during  this  time  his  family  were  staying  with  relatives  in 
Vermont  and  a  friend  gave  him  money  to  go  and  visit 
them.  He  saved  the  money  for  his  college  expenses  and 
walked  from  Boston  to  Northern  Vermont.  In  the  army, 
when  the  officers  were  to  have  a  banquet,  he  declined  to 
take  part  but,  with  the  money  he  would  have  contributed 
to  the  banquet,  he  bought  delicacies  for  the  hospital. 
Many  more  such  stories  could  be  told  as  his  life  was  full 
of  just  such  incidents. 

His  position  upon  political  subjects  was  always  on 
the  highest  platform.  He  had  no  patience  with  the  spirit 
that  kept  so  important  a  class  of  interests  entirely  outside 
of,  and  separate  from  all  religious  considerations.  In 
1858  Fourth  of  July  fell  on  Sunday  and  he  took  that  oc- 
casion to  make  a  Fourth  of  July  oration  for  his  sermon. 
He  says:  "Men  sometimes  wish  to  make  an  entire  sep- 
aration between  things  of  religion  and  things  of  ordinary 
life.  Especially  would  they  keep  politics  and  religion 
apart  from  each  other;  but  this  birthday  of  our  nation, 
this  day  of  glory,  gratitude  and  joy,  in  the  natural  order 
of  things  and  of  God's  great  Providence  takes  its  turn  of 


Of  The  First  Pastor.  67 

Sundays  in  the  week,  just  as  though  one  of  these  days 
belonged  to  Him  as  much  as  the  others,  and  just  as  though 
He  felt  no  impropriety  in  bringing  religion  and  politics 
face  to  face.  True  religion,  I  am  certain,  has  no  occasion 
for  a  feeling  of  diffidence  in  the  presence  of  the  genius 
of  American  Freedom,  and  our  American  Goddess  of 
Liberty  ought  not  to  blush  in  the  presence  of  the  religion 
of  Christ.  For  American  Liberty  is  the  daughter  of 
Christianity.  It  was  born  of  the  (sentiment  of  our  text, 
'All  ye  are  brethren. '  It  is  the  offspring  of  the  doctrine 
of  Divine  paternity  and  human  brotherhood.  The  des- 
potisms of  the  old  world  rest  upon  assumptions  of  special 
Divine  rights  and  the  possession  of  power.  But  our  na- 
tional union  is  an  attempt  to  found  and  govern  a  state  on 
Christ's  idea  of  brotherhood,  and  Christ's  doctrine  of 
equal  rights  of  humanity  and  of  equal  justice  to  all  men. 
It  disclaims  the  assumption  of  lordship  and  a  natural  right 
of  authority  of  one  man  over  another.  It  makes  every 
man  free  of  all  but  God.  It  is  an  endeavor  to  realize 
Christ's  idea  and  carry  out  Christ's  principles  in  political 
action  and  natural  life.  Such  being  the  character  of  our 
national  union,  the  great  idea  and  object  of  our  govern- 
ment, we  have  no  occasion  to  suspect  the  existence  of  any 
incongruity  between  politics  and  religion.  We  have 
therefore,  no  reason  to  feel  that  it  is  out  of  place  for  the 
Fourth  of  July,  our  national  birthday,  to  come  on  Sunday. 
We  have  no  reason  to  feel  that  a  consideration  of  national 
and  political  interests  is  out  of  season,  in  connection  with 
our  holiest  religious  sentiments  and  services." 

He  then  goes  on  to  show  that,  as  Jesus'  teachings 
were  so  far  in  advance  of  his  times  that  now,  nearly  two 
thousand  years  later,  we  are  only  beginning  to  compre- 
hend and  to  live  up  to  them,  so  the  Declaration  of 
Independence,  that  all  men  are  created  free  and  equal, 


68  Character  Sketch. 

was  so  far  above  the  heads  of  the  people  at  that  time  that, 
when  the  constitution  came  to  be  made,  the  f ramers  found 
it  impossible  to  make  it  as  high  in  its  character  as  the 
declaration,  published  to  the  world  eleven  years  before. 
The  people  loved  freedom  for  themselves. 
They  scorned  to  bear  even  a  light  yoke  of  political  servi- 
tude but,  under  the  constitution,  based  upon  the  Declara- 
tion of  Independence,  slavery  was  permitted  an  existence 
and  a  silent  recognition.  He  then  proceeds  to  deal  sledge- 
hammer blows  on  the  inertness  that  still  allows  slavery  to 
exist,  with  a  bravery  that  we  of  to-day  can  hardly  ap- 
preciate, and  exclaims: 

"If  we  have  not  Christian  principle  enough  to  act  in 
accordance  with  our  great  ideas  of  justice  and  the  rights 
of  man,  if  we  have  not  conscience  enough  to  make  us 
defend  the  oppressed  and  down  trodden  but,  for  the  sake 
of  union  and  our  own  peace,  we  would  be  willing  to  let 
the  African  race  remain  in  everlasting  bondage,  this  in- 
stitution of  slavery  will  by  no  means  fail  to  reach  where 
we  shall  feel  it,  to  take  hold  of  us  where  we  are  alive  and 
to  compel  us,  for  our  own  personal  freedom  and  safety 
and  self  interests  to  rise  up  against  it  and  reassert  the 
doctrines  of  the  Declaration  of  Independence." 

This  and  other  sentences  in  this  discourse,  written 
four  years  before  Lincoln  was  elected,  show  a  prophetic 
spirit  possessed  by  few  even  of  his  co-laborers  in  the 
pulpit.  We  now  point  to  him  with  pride  as  one  Unitarian 
minister,  who  stood  bravely  by  his  colors,  the  red, 
white  and  blue,  and  by  the  eternal  principles  of  right. 
It  is  almost  impossible,  even  for  those  of  us  who  lived 
through  it,  to  realize  the  courage,  the  absolute  fearless- 
ness of  this  and  other  equally  brave  sentences  in  this  and 
similar  sermons.  He  felt  that  every  sin  was  his  special 
opponent,  that  the  more  near  it  came  to  his  flock,  the 


Of  The  first  Pastor.  69 

more  he  must  expose  its  dangerous  proximity,  even 
though  he  knew  that  in  all  probability  it  would  sever  his 
connection  with  these  dear  friends. 

And  here  I  must  say,  for  the  credit  of  the  little  band 
to  whom  Mr.  Conant  in  a  special  manner  belonged,  that 
some  were  in  sympathy  with  him  fully,  and  the  rest  to 
the  extent  of  giving  him  the  fullest  freedom  to  speak  his 
boldest  and  strongest  thought;  but  new  families  had  come 
in,  who  had  not  had  the  privilege  of  living  with  this  hardy 
pioneer  band  and  absorbing  their  independence  and  of 
becoming  imbued  with  their  spirit  and  with  that  of  their 
pastor.  And  Mr.  Conant  could  not  work  against  even  a 
small  number  of  disaffected  ones,  when  he  was  used  to 
entire  confidence  and  sympathy.  I  am  impelled  to  make 
this  explanation  lest  it  seem  that  Mr.  Conant' s  person- 
ality was  weak  and  valueless,  instead  of  being  strong  and 
vigorous.  Without  doubt,  the  very  ones  who  were  most 
active  in  their  disaffection  would  have  taken  an  entirely 
different  course  had  they  had  the  good  fortune  to  have 
listened  to  our  blessed  pastor  a  few  years,  instead  of  a 
few  months. 

But  he  was  even  more  prophetic  upon  other  subjects. 
Over  forty  years  ago  he  took  time  to  learn  stenography 
and  used  it  some  in  his  sermons  and  he  was  even  then 
strongly  interested  in  spelling  reform.  While  Froebel 
was  yet  struggling  with  an  adverse  public  opinion  in 
Europe  this  Unitarian  minister,  far  off  on  the  Illinois  prai- 
ries, had  solved  and  was  urging  his  principles.  Among 
the  many  progressive  ideas  he  expressed  on  this  subject, 
I  can  take  time  for  but  one. 

He  says:  "Childhood  and  youth  are  the  most  vital, 
susceptible  and  appreciative  periods  of  human  life. 

*  More  attention  should  be  given  to  providing  oc- 
cupation for  all  the  receptive  faculties  and  active  energies 


70  Character  Sketch. 

of  children.  Give  the  little  child  the  opportunity  and 
means  and  he  will  be  a  perpetual  student  and  experimenter 
'in  the  examination  of  the  elements,  facts  and  forces  of 
nature.  Give  him  tools  and  materials  and  he  at  once 
takes  lessons  in  mechanics,  destructive  perhaps  at  first, 
more  destructive  than  constructive,  but  always  instructive 
and  therefore  of  interest  and  worth.  When  the  season 
and  weather  permit  put  him  in  the  garden,  and  he  will 
at  once  commence  observations  and  experiments  in  geol- 
ogy, geography,  entomology,  botany,  and  a  dozen  other 
sciences." 

This  extract  might  also  be  used  to  show  that  he  was 
looking  forward  to  manual  training  as  a  branch  of 
education. 

I  wish  I  could  give  you  an  idea  of  one  of  his  sermons 
on  Temperance,  but  I  have  only  time  for  a  few  discon- 
nected sentences.  A  quarter  of  a  century  before  anyone 
else  suggested  it,  he  urged  the  idea  of  checking  intem- 
perance by  influencing  the  saloon  keeper  and  the  owners 
of  buildings  used  for  saloons.  He  took  for  his  text, 
"Alas  for  the  man  through  whom  the  offence  cometh," 
and  says: 

"Men  who  know  the  effects  of  the  liquor 
traffic  and  the  terrible  results  of  the  use  of  intoxicating 
beverages,  and  who  acknowledge  that  it  is  wrong,  and 
who  confess  that  their  only  motive  arid  excuse  is  the  gain- 
fulness  of  the  traffic,  live  among  us  and,  disregarding  the 
welfare  of  their  fellow  men  and  the  warnings  of  Christian- 
ity and  the  monitions  of  their  own  consciences,  continue 
the  ruinous  work.  And  there  are  others,  too,  who  are 
little  less  guilty  than  they,  the  landlord  who  rents  tene- 
ments for  such  use  is  one  'through  whom  the  offense  com- 
eth. '  *  *  *  The  reasoning  that  men  who  want  it  will 
have  it  and  they  themselves  may  as  well  reap  the  ad  van- 


Of  The  First  Pastor.  71 

tages  as  for  others  to  do  so  will  not  excuse  them  from 
guilt.  If  no  liquor  were  to  be  had,  none  could  be  drank. 
If  no  one  would  allow  the  use  of  a  building  for  the  sale 
of  it,  no  one  would  sell  it,  and  intemperance  would  not 
exist.  Through  those  who  furnish  the  beverage  the 
offense  cometh  and  the  guilt  of  its  crimes  and  woes  .rests 
upon  them.  What  a  sacrifice  of  peace,  purity 

and  integrity  and  all  real  worth  and  enduring  for  that 
which  will  not  purchase  for  the  guilty  soul  a  single  hour 
of  relief  from  the  agonies  of  self-condemnation  and  re- 
morse. *  .  *  *  Will  you  say  of  this  as  of  the  gain  ! 
'Some  one  will  bring  this  guilt  arid  torment  upon  his  soul 
if  I  do  not,  and  I  may  as  well  bear  it  as  another?'  * 

If  you  will  continue  to  be  a  curse  instead  of  a 
blessing  to  the  friendly  community  in  which  you  live,  what 
can  you  expect  in  case  of  your  death  but  that  we  shall 
rejoice  that  a  less  evil  has  delivered  us  from  a  greater?" 
I  very  much  want  to  give  you  more  and  fuller  extracts 
to  show  you  his  power  as  a  sermonizer,  but  time  forbids. 
He  indulged  in  no  flowers  of  rhetoric  but,  with  simple 
directness,  went  straight  to  the  heart  of  his  subject  and  his 
words  carried  conviction.  He  felt  deeply,  expressed  him- 
self strongly  and  clearly  and  was  absolutely  fearless  and 
independent  in  his  determination  to  speak  the  truth  as  it 
appeared  to  him,  and  thoroughly  practical,  always  urging 
his  people  to  live  up  to  their  highest  ideals.  One  can 
hardly  believe  in  looking  over  his  manuscripts  that  they 
were  written  so  long  ago,  and  in  a  country  where  books 
were  almost  inaccessible.  I  well  remember  how,  when 
any  one  of  the  little  band  obtained  a  book,  no  matter  up- 
on what  subject,  it  was  considered  the  property  of  all 
who  wished  to  read  it  and  that  it  was  usually  returned  to 
the  owner  in  nearly  as  good  a  condition  as  when  it  started 
on  its  travels.  And  yet  here  on  the  prairie  was  this  bright 


72  Character  Sketch. 

intellect,  fully  abreast  of,  and  even  in  advance  of  his 
times,  surrounded  by  a  coterie  of  congenial  spirits,  all 
studying  together  the  problems  of  the  day  and  of  the 
future. 

Mr.  Conant  was  a  noted  man  in  his  day.  During 
his  visits  east  he  met  many  prominent  people,  who  never 
forgot  the  quaint  figure  from  which  spoke  the  great  soul. 
Most  of  the  noted  people  who  came  west  to  lecture  or  to 
study  the  country  in  the  early  days  visited  him.  While 
in  Geneva  he  numbered  among  his  guests  Margaret  Fuller, 
Horace  Greeley,  Lant.  Carpenter,  of  England,  Mrs.  Caro- 
line Dahl,  Mrs.  Rebecca  Clark  and  Miss  Sarah,  the  artist, 
the  mother  and  sister  of  Rev.  James  Freeman  Clarke,  Miss 
Cummins,  the  authoress,  Henry  Giles,  Isaac  McClellan, 
the  poet,  Fred  Douglass,  Revs.  Robert  Collyer,  Rush  R. 
Shippen,  C.  A.  Staples,  Geo.  W.  Hosmer  and  Dr.  Noyes. 
In  Rockford  among  his  guests  were  Ralph  Waldo  Emer- 
son, Prof.  Yeomans,  Lucy  Stone  Blackwell,  Tom  Corwin, 
of  Ohio,  Bayard  Taylor  and  Revs.  John  Pierpont,  Starr 
King  and  others. 

I  cannot  close  this  paper  more  appropriately  than  by 
reading  this  letter  from  Rev.  C.  A.  Staples,  of  Lexington, 
Mass.,  written  for  this  occasion.  It  is  a  critical  summing 
up  of  this  noble  character  by  one  who  knew  him  and 
loved  him  well. 

"In  the  summer  of  1853,  while  a  student  in  Mead- 
ville  Theological  School,  I  wrote  to  Mr.  Conant  asking 
him  if  he  could  find  some  missionary  work  for  me  in  his 
vicinity  during  the  approaching  summer  vacation.  He 
replied  cordially,  inviting  me  to  visit  him  and  promising 
to  find  occupation  for  me  in  preaching  as  long  as  I  chose 
to  remain.  Accordingly  I  started  for  Chicago  as  soon  as 
the  school  closed  and  in  due  time  reached  Geneva,  where 
I  was  heartily  welcomed  by  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Conant.  I  well 


Of  The  Flrxt  Paxtor.  73 

remember  his  pleasant  home,  his  bright  and  cheery  face, 
his  simple,  cordial  manner  and  his  earnest  devotion  to  his 
duties  as  preacher  and  pastor.  He  was  then  preaching  to 
his  own  people  morning  and  evening  on  Sunday,  and  often 
going  out  several  miles  into  the  country  to  hold  services 
in  the  afternoon.  There  were  several  places  where  he 
had  little  congregations  meeting  in  school  houses,  to 
which  he  ministered,  and  his  services  were  much  sought 
by  the  country  people  for  vfunerals,  weddings  and  various 
meetings  in  the  cause  of  temperance  and  anti-slavery. 
fie  seemed  to  me  to  be  a  missionary  of  the  true  apostolic 
order,  ever  ready  to  go  where  the  humblest  service  could 
be  rendered  to  any  human  being,  glad  to  be  the  comforter 
and  helper  of  men. 

After  a  day  or  two  passed  with  him  in  delightful 
fellowship  he  took  me  to  Elgin,  then  a  small  village  not 
much  larger  than  Geneva,  where  he  had  gathered  a  new 
society  and  built  an  humble  chapel.  Here  he  introduced 
me  to  a  number  of  pleasant  families,  to  whom  I  ministered 
in  my  youthful,  boyish  way  for  the  next  two  months. 
During  this  time  I  made  occasional  visits  to  Mr.  Conant 
and  passed  many  days  in  his  family.  We  had  an  exchange 
and  held  a  meeting  of  the  Ministerial  association  at  his 
house,  where  Rev.  Rush  R.  Shipper),  of  Chicago,  and 
myself  with  our  host  formed  the  entire  association.  But 
it  was  a  good  time.  We  held  an  evening  service  in  the 
church  and  read  essays  and  sermons  to  each  other,  inter- 
spersed with  pleasant  talk  and  rambles  about  the  country. 

One  thing  that  much  impressed  me  in  this  intercourse 
with  Mr.  Conant  was  his  enthusiasm  in  his  work.  He 
thoroughly  believed  in  it.  He  loved  it  and  gave  himself 
to  it  with  untiring  devotion.  He  was  a  man  of  warm  and 
generous  sympathies,  and  readily  entered  into  the  sorrows 
and  joys  of  his  fellow-beings;  a  man  of  sincere  faith  and 


74  Character  Sketch. 

piety,  whose  highest  ambition  it  was  to  be  an  humble  fol- 
lower of  Jesus.  He  was  a  growing  man,  reaching  out  to 
larger  thought  and  pressing  on  to  a  higher  manhood. 

Another  thing  which  much  impressed  me  was  the 
high  intellectual  and  moral  character  of  the  people  whom 
he  had  drawn  about  him  at  Geneva.  More  genial,  kindly, 
delightful  people  than  the  leading  families  of  his  church, 
I  have  seldom  known,  and  they  seemed  to  cherish  a 
deep  and  tender  love  for  him.  My  acquaintance  with 
them  during  that  summer  forms  one  of  the  pleasantest 
memories  of  my  life. 

In  after  years  I  often  met  Mr.  Conant  at  the  meetings 
of  the  Western  Conference  and  I  met  him  once,  I  think, 
while  he  was  a  chaplain  in  the  army;  always  the  same 
cheerful,  hopeful,  loving  spirit,  always  glad  to  help  and 
cheer  his  fellow  men,  always  true  to  the  highest  and  best 
that  he  knew. 

Such  is  my  thought  of  him  as  I  turn  back  the  pages  of 
memory.  So  MS  he  enshrined  in  my  heart,  as  a  true 
friend  and  a  faithful  worker  in  the  vineyard  of  the  Lord. 
We  may  well  say  of  him  in  the  words  of  the  quaint  old 
poet,  Herbert: — 

'The  religious  actions  of  the  just, 

Smell  sweet  in  death  and  blossom  in  the  dust.'  " 

NOTE: — In  each  of  the  three  succeeding  papers  will  be  found 
further  reference  to  Mr.  Conant. — [EDS.] 


WRITTEN  BY  EBEN  CONANT  AND  USED  AT  THE  DEDICATION  OF 
THE  BUILDING,  JANUARY  24,  1844. 

O  Thou  whom  Heaven  cannot  contain, 
Much  less  the  poor  abodes  of  men, 
Who  yet  in  condescending  grace 
Dost  find  in  humble  hearts  a  place. 

As  children  to  their  parents  come 
Or  wanderers  to  their  native  home, 
So  to  thy  throne  would  we  repair 
With  joy  and  praise  and  fervent  prayer. 

Our  humble  efforts  deign  to  bless 
And  make  this  house  thy  dwelling  place; 
Here  let  our  souls  in  Thee  rejoice 
While  in  thy  praise  we  lift  our  voice. 

Here  let  thy  truth  distill  like  dew 
And  here  let  souls  be  formed  anew, 
Thy  saints  be  fed  with  living  bread 
And  in  their  hearts  thy  spirit  shed. 

And  when  the  grave  shall  be  our  bed 
Then  raise  up  others  in  our  stead; 
Let  generations  yet  to  be 
Here  learn  to  know  and  worship  Thee. 


cmfc 


BY  REV.    L.    C.    KELSEY    OF  ELYRIA,    OHIO. 

S  introductory  to  what  I  wish  to  present,  I 
will  briefly  refer  to  the  class,  of  which  I  was 
_  a  member,  which  was  graduated  from 
the  Unitarian  Theological  School  at  Meadville,  Pa. ,  in 
June,  1854.  This  class  consisted  of  Henry  B.  Burges,  C. 
A.  Staples,  N.  A.  Staples,  D.  C.  O'Daniels,  T.  C.  Moul- 
ton,  John  Murray,  C.  C.  Kichardson,  Chas.  Hitter,  W. 
C.  Scandlin,  Geo.  Withington  and  myself.  As  some  of 
these  were,  at  an  early  day,  ministers  within  the  boundary 
of  the  Western  Unitarian  Conference  1  shall  have  occasion 
to  refer  to  them.  Nearly  one -half  of  the  members  of  this 
class  died  in  early  manhood.  The  only  one  living,  and 
at  present  in  the  ministry,  so  far  as  I  know,  is  C.  A. 
Staples,  pastor  of  the  Unitarian  Society  at  Lexington  Mass. 

After  leaving  Meadville  and  spending  a  few  weeks  in 
Massachusetts  and  Ohio,  I  proceeded  with  my  little  family 
to  this  place,  and  was  received  with  a  kindly  greeting  and 
made  welcome  to  the  hospitality  of  Brother  and  Sister 
Conant.  This  was  in  September,  1854,  and  at  that  time 
there  were  several  places  in  Illinois  where  the  prospect 
for  organizing  liberal  societies  seemed  to  be  quite  promising. 

After  surveying  the  field,  and  with  Brother  Conant1  s 


Incidents  and  Reminiscences.  77 

advice  and  influence,  I  decided  to  make  my  first  venture 
in  Dixon,  111.,  an  enterprising  place  of  about  three  thou- 
sand inhabitants.  Here  I  found  a  few  Unitarians  from 
New  England,  who  extended  to  me  a  very  cordial  welcome; 
they  were  greatly  rejoiced  at  the  prospect  of  organizing  a 
liberal  church,  and  entered  hand  and  heart  into  the  enter- 
prise. These  formed  a  nucleus  around  which  were  soon 
gathered  a  band  of  progressive,  liberal-minded  men  and 
women. 

Our  first  services  were  held  in  a  hall  and  continued 
there  for  three  months,  after  which  the  M.  E.  church  was 
rented  and  service  held  there  at  two  o'clock  in  the  afternoon 
every  Sunday,  until  our  church  was  ready  for  occupancy. 
This  edifice  was  built  in  Gothic  style,  costing  about  three 
thousand  dollars,  and  capable  of  seating  about  three  hun- 
dred persons.  The  dedication  of  this  church,  on  April  9, 
1856,  was  quite  an  important  event,  as  this  was  then  re- 
garded as  one  of  the  western  outposts  of  Unitarianism. 

The  services  at  the  dedication  were  interesting  and 
impressive  and  have  always  been  a  source  of  pleasant 
reflection.  As  some  who  are  here  to-day  knew  most  of 
the  ministers  who  were  present  on  that  occasion  it  may 
not  be  uninteresting  to  name  them.  The  dedication  sermon 
was  preached  by  Rush  R.  Shippen  of  Chicago.  He  was 
assisted  in  the  services  by  Brother  Conant,  Elder  Bradley 
of  Belvidere  and  Rev.  H.  L.  Myrick  of  Cambridge,  Mass. 
The  installation  of  the  pastor  took  place  in  the  evening  of 
the  same  day.  Brother  Conant  preached  the  sermon. 
His  topic  was  "The  Personal  Privileges  of  the  Liberal 
Christian  Minister."  He  treated  his  subject  in  a  terse, 
manly  and  practical  way  and  showed  unmistakable  evi- 
dence of  deep  thought  and  varied  reading. 

Rush  R.  Shippen  of  Chicago  and  John  Murray  of 
Rockford,  111.  took  part  in  these  services.  Other  services 


78  Incidents  and  Reminiscences. 

were  held  in  which  Revs.  Mason  and  Palmer  of  the  Uni- 
versalist  church  and  Elders  Bradley  and  Towner  of  the 
Christian  denomination,  also  Rev.  M.  Kaig  of  the  M.  E. 
church  and  Rev.  Mr.  Ball  of  the  Baptist  church  took 
active  parts. 

The  work  at  Dixon  was  producing  quite  a  strain  upon 
the  body  and  mind  and  I  soon  began  to  realize  that  my 
health  was  failing.  I  sought  rest  and  recreation  by  visit- 
ing and  exchanging  with  fellow  laborers  and  embracing 
opportunities  of  holding  services  at  various  places  in  the 
surrounding  country. 

At  Como  and  Sterling,  where  Brother  Conant  had  pre- 
ceded me,  I  found  quite  a  band  of  New  England  Uni- 
tarians. At  the  former  place  there  had  been  organized  a 
small  Unitarian  Society;  services  were  held  among  them 
selves,  by  reading  sermons  and  selections,  when  they  were 
unable  to  procure  a  speaker.  I  held  services  there  a  few 
times  and  formed  some  very  pleasant  acquaintances.* 

There  were  other  places  where  I  was  not  received 
with  so  much  cordiality,  and  I  recall  one  occasion  showing 
the  spirit  of  intolerance  as  sometimes  manifested.  A 
friend  invited  me  into  the  country  to  hold  services  at  the 
school  house  in  his  neighborhood.  He  made  an  appoint- 
ment for  me  and  at  the  time  designated  I  found  the  house 
well  filled.  I  gave  a  short  talk  upon  the  principal  fea- 
tures of  Unitarianism,  and  so  much  interest  seeming  to 
be  manifested  I  was  induced  to  give  notice  that  I  would 

*  The  origin  of  this  move  in  Como  was  largely  due  to  one 
earnest  Unitarian  family  from  Providence.  R.  I.,  Mrs.  Susan  Jarvis 
Gushing,  a  lady  of  rare  strength  of  character  and  refinement, 
her  daughter,  now  Mrs.  Frank  Cheney  of  South  Manchester, 
Conn,  and  several  of  her  sous  who  were  all  warm  friends  of  Mr. 
Conant.  Before  this  date  the  mother  and  daughter  had  returned 
to  their  New  England  home,  but  their  influence  remained  and  the 
sons  were  among  the  helpful  friends  referred  to  by  Mr.  Kelst  y.— 

[EDS;] 


Incidents  and  Reminiscences.  79 

speak  there  again  in  two  weeks,  in  case  it  would  not 
interfere  with  any  other  appointment;  I  was  assured  that 
it  would  not.  Hiring  a  horse  and  carriage  and  taking 
with  me  a  member  of  my  society  I  started  in  the  early 
evening  for  the  place  of  meeting.  Our  surprise  was  great 
upon  reaching  the  house  to  find  it  well  lighted,  quite  a 
large  congregation  assembled  and  a  preacher  at  the  desk. 
We  soon  took  in  the  situation,  sat  down  among  the  people 
and  had  the  benefit  of  a  sermon  which  would  not  be 
tolerated  in  any  pulpit  to-day.  At  the  close  of  the  ser- 
vices I  asked  and  obtained  permission  to  say  a  few  words 
and  stated  why  I  was  there.  The  preacher  in  reply  in- 
formed me  that  he  was  not  responsible  for  the  appointment 
at  that  particular  time,  as  it  had  been  made  for  him.  I 
then  concluded  that  some  one  in  the  neighborhood  had 
perpetrated  a  joke  at  my  expense  and  that  other  fields 
would  be  more  pleasant  and  profitable  for  missionary  work. 

I  recall  some  peculiar  and  pleasant  incidents  con- 
nected with  my  brief  ministry.  There  is  always  a  funny 
as  well  as  a  sober  side  to  a  minister's  life  and  I  had  a 
brief  experience  in  both. 

At  one  time  a  young  man,  in  search  of  a  minister  to 
conduct  services  at  the  funeral  of  his  father,  called  to  in- 
terview me  in  regard  to  rny  religious  opinions;  after  some 
rather  pointed  inquiries  he  informed  me  that  his  father 
was  not  a  member  of  any  church  and  was  regarded  by  his 
neighbors  as  an  infidel.  He  then  informed  me  that  I  was 
just  the  man  he  had  been  looking  for  and  he  had  no  doubt 
I  would  fill  the  bill.  With  this,  rather  doubtful  compli- 
ment, I  consented  to  go.  The  following  day  I  was  taken 
into  the  country  to  a  rather  secluded  place  in  a  valley,  a 
distance  of  about  ten  miles,  where  there  was  a  double  log 
house  which  I  found  filled  with  people  from  far  and  near 
who  had  been  notified  that  a  Unitarian  was  to  take  charge 


80  Incidents  and  Reminiscences. 

of  the  services.  As  I  looked  over  the  people  assembled 
I  thought  I  could  detect  in  their  faces  indications  of  curi- 
osity and  deep  interest. 

The  large  audience  and  the  novelty  of  the  situation 
were  quite  inspiring  and  I  tried  to  impress  upon  the  peo- 
ple the  thought  the  occasion  seemed  to  suggest,  that  the 
life  and  the  character  we  are  living  and  forming  will  be 
continuous;  that  what  we  call  death  is  only  a  transition 
period  in  the  life  of  every  man;  that  God  is  the  father 
of  all  and  that  neither  time  nor  place,  nor  condition  in 
this  world  or  in  any  worlds  could  limit  His  love;  and  that 
as  we  all  belonged  to  a  common  brotherhood  we  should 
judge  and  honor  our  fellow-men,  not  by  their  opinions  or 
creeds  but  by  their  lives  and  characters.  After  the  services 
many  took  me  by  the  hand  and  expressed  a  desire  to  hear 
more  of  this  new  faith.  The  occasion  made  a  deep  im- 
pression upon  my  mind  and,  has  ever  been  a  green  spot 
in  my  memory. 

During  the  early  part  of  my  labors  in  Dixon,  John 
Murray  had  received  and  accepted  a  call  from  the  Unitar- 
ian Society  at  Rockford,  and  it  was  during  his  ministry  that 
the  Society  completed  and  dedicated  their  beautiful  church 
edifice.  Mr.  Murray's  labors  in  Rockford  covered  a 
period  of  nearly  three  years.  He  then  resigned  and  went 
East.  Subsequently  he  went  to  England  where  he  died 
about  three  years  ago.  At  the  time  of  his  death  he  had 
•charge  of  two  societies. 

During  the  years  1855  and  1856  Geo.  Withington 
was  preaching  to  a  small  Unitarian  Society  in  Hillsbor- 
ough,  Montgomery  Co.,  111.  I  recall  with  much  pleasure 
a  visit  I  enjoyed  with  him  and  his  people  in  the  summer 
of  1856.  Of  his  subsequent  history  I  have  no  knowledge. 

Another  member  of  the  class  of  1854,  who  for  some 
years  was  one  of  the  most  prominent  and  promising  young 


Incidents  and  Reminiscences.  81 

ministers  in  the  Western  Unitarian  Conference,  was  Nohor 
Augustus  Staples,  pastor  of  the  Society  at  Milwaukee, 
Wis.  from  1856  to  1860.  A  sketch  of  that  earnest, 
beautiful  life  has  been  written  by  John  W.  Chadwick. 

I  recall  several  TJniversalist  ministers  who  were 
among  my  most  intimate  friends  and  associates  and  who 
were  doing  good  work  for  the  spread  of  liberal  views  in 
northern  Illinois,  but  time  will  not  permit  me  to  give  them 
so  much  as  a  passing  notice. 

Brother  Conant  commenced  his  labors  in  a  new  field 
and  with  but  few  co-workers.  His  earnestness,  the  genial 
and  friendly  spirit  manifested  towards  everyone  with 
whom  he  came  in  contact,  secured  for  him  many  warm 
frends  of  liberal  tendency.  At  this  distant  day  I  can  re- 
call only  a  few  of  them.  One  with  whom  I  became  inti- 
mately acquainted  and  whom  I  greatly  admired,  deserves 
morethan  a  passing  notice.  I  refer  to  Ichabod  Codding,  an 
anti-slavery  lecturer  of  great  ability  and  eloquence.  He 
was  largely  in  sympathy  with  Mr.  Conant  in  his  religious 
views.  He  believed  in  the  largest  freedom  for  man  in 
forming  and  enjoying  his  religious  opinions  and  had 
started  out  upon  independent  lines  of  thought  and  action. 
While  arousing  communities  and  gaining  converts  to  the 
anti-slavery  cause  by  his  wonderful  eloquence,  he  was 
preparing  the  way  for  the  liberal  church.  The  success  re- 
sulting from  his  labors  in  many  places  brought  him  prom- 
inently before  the  Western  Unitarian  Conference  as  a 
suitable  person  for  missionary  work,  but  fearing  that  he 
might  make  his  anti- slavery  sentiments  too  conspicuous 
he  was  not  employed  in  an  official  way.  He  continued 
his  independent  labors  in  various  fields  until  one  year  after 
the  close  of  the  war. 

He  died  in  1866,  leaving  a  noble  example  of  fidelity 
to  a  grand  principle — Human  Freedom.  How  dear  to  that 


82  Incidents  and  Reminiscences. 

earnest,  humanity-loving  soul  must  have  been  the  words, 
"Mine  eyes  have  seen  the  glory  of  the  coming  of  the 
Lord."  At  the  time  Mr.  Conant  became  acquainted  with 
Mr.  Codding  the  anti-slavery  discussions  were  attracting 
much  attention  and  I  well  remember  a  little  incident  which 
occurred  in  this  church  about  the  same  time,  causing  no 
little  stir  and  which  made  a  deep  impression  upon  my 
mind.  It  showed  to  the  members  that  their  pastor  had 
the  courage  of  his  convictions  and  that  he  would  not 
falter  in  denouncing  oppression  in  whatever  form  it  might 
appear,  whether  in  church  or  state.  I  allude  to  the  occa- 
sion of  his  preaching  a  sermon  upon  the  terrible  evil  of 
human  slavery  as  it  then  existed  in  our  country.  While 
in  the  midst  of  his  most  fervent  utterances  a  prominent 
member  of  the  society  took  his  hat  and  in  an  excited 
and  unceremonious  manner  left  the  church. 

In  the  morning  Brother  Conant  in  referring  to  the  inci- 
dent remarked  to  me  that  he  did  not  notice  any  great 
change  in  the  appearance  of  things.  The  sun  arose  as 
usual,  the  sky  looked  as  bright  and  as  beautiful  as  ever, 
and  such  little  episodes,  however  unpleasant,  could  not 
hinder  the  onward  march  of  truth  and  the  ultimate  triumph 
of  the  right.  During  the  early  part  of  Mr.  Conant's  min- 
istry, A.  B.  Fuller,  a  Unitarian  and  a  brother  of  the  re- 
nowned Margaret  Fuller,  was  engaged  in  teaching  at 
Belvidere,  111.  In  connection  with  his  duties  as  teacher 
in  the  Belvidere  Academy  he  did  some  pioneer  work  in 
behalf  of  liberal  Christianity.  About  this  time  Brother 
Conant  did  some  missionary  work  in  that  vicinity  which 
resulted  in  the  formation  of  a  small  liberal  society.  Mr. 
Fuller  left  Belvidere  early  in  1845,  going  east  for  the 
purpose  of  preparing  himself  for  the  ministry. 

The  first  regular  minister  of  the  society   was  Rev. 
Mr.  Wai  worth,  who  remained  but  a  short  time.      Subse- 


Incidents  and  Reminiscences.  83 

quently  the  society  had  for  a  limited  time  other  ministers, 
the  last  being  Rev.  Bradley.  After  he  left  in  1848,  the 
society  disbanded.  Shortly  after,  a  Universalist  society 
was  organized  but  concerning  its  history  I  have  not  the 
means  of  knowing. 

Mr.  Fuller  was  one  of  the  first  to  enlist  for  the  de- 
fense of  the  Union  and  one  of  the  first  to  yield  up  his 
life.  He  was  killed  in  battle. 

There  were  some  earnest  and  liberal-minded  men  in 
other  denominations  who  had  taken  Mr.  Conant  into 
their  fellowship.  One  of  these  was  for  some  time  preach- 
ing for  the  Universalist  Society  at  St.  Charles,  111.  He 
was  not  only  an  eloquent  preacher,  but  poet  and  editor  as 
well.  I  refer  to  Rev.  Mr.  Roundsville,  who  was  known 
quite  extensively  in  northern  Illinois,  and  who  did  a  grand 
work  in  the  pulpit  and  by  the  pen  for  the  cause  of  liberal 
Christianity. 

Another  co-laborer  of  a  little  later  date  was  Rev.  Mr. 
Slade,  pastor  of  the  Universalist  Society  at  Aurora,  111. 
He  was  a  man  of  more  than  ordinary  ability  and  a  great 
admirer  of  Mr.  Conant.  I  knew  him  quite  intimately, 
having  met  him  upon  several  occasions  and  I  at  one  time 
exchanged  pulpits  with  him. 

I  recall  Elder  Wickizer  of  Warrenville  and  Elder 
Towner  of  Belvidere,  who  were  ministers  in  the  so-called 
Christian  denomination.  They  were  self-educated,  earnest 
men,  serving  their  generation  faithfully  and  in  full  sym- 
pathy with  liberal  religious  ideas.  These  are  a  few  of 
the  brave  ones  who  were  contemporary  with  Mr.  Conant 
in  pioneer  work. 


cmbom 


BY  MRS.  JULIA  DODSON  SHEPPABD  OF  PENN  YAN,  N.  Y. 

_i^~'  . 

was  six  months  old  when  the  First  Unitarian 
Society  of  Geneva  was  founded.  I  have  no  recol- 
lection of  the  event;  possibly  1  had  not  then 
learned  to  think  for  myself,  or  perhaps  I  may  have  been 
absorbed  in  the  contemplation  of  "infant  damnation,"  a 
generally  accepted  doctrine  at  that  date,  and  the  belief,  or 
rather  disbelief,  in  a  triune  God  had  not  then  arrested  my 
attention. 

I  have  often  heard  my  mother  refer  to  the  first  ser- 
mon she  heard  questioning  the  trinity,  she  was  shocked 
and  began  reading  the  bible,  marking  passages  for  and 
against  it;  great  was  her  dismay  to  find  the  word,  trinity, 
not  in  the  book  at  all  and  the  preponderance  of  evidence 
quite  against  it;  she  united  with  th'e  society  during  Mr. 
Conant's  pastorate;  many  little '  incidents  of  those  early 
days  she  and  my  father  often  spoke  of  in  my  hearing. 
The  little  church  was  for  some  years  quite  the  most 
stately  edifice  of  the  surrounding  country.  The  Methodist 
society  was  holding  services  in  the  school  house;  Mr. 
Conant  decided  to  offer  the  church  to  them,  so  one  Sab- 
bath, after  the  morning  sermon,  he  tendered  the  use  of 


Random   Reminiscences.  85 

the  church  to  them  Sunday  afternoons;  there  was  a  long 
and  awkward  pause,  then  the  minister  arose  and  said  he 
could  not  accept  the  offer,  'he  could  not  preach  in  a  church 
where  his  Lord  and  Master  was  denied.1  During  Mr. 
Herbert's  ministry  that  same  society  exchanged  pulpits 
with  him,  seeming  to  have  learned  not  to  be  unduly  afraid 
of  doubters. 

During  my  childhood  we  lived  for  a  time  in  the  house 
next  to  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Conant.  My  brother  and  1  were 
often  invited  by  the  Conant  children  to  attend  the  wed- 
dings which  occurred  frequently  in  the  parsonage.  Now 
and  then  we  all  laughed  at  the  dress  or  embarrassment  of 
the  bride  and  her  attendant  bridegroom,  then  quite  a  time 
would  elapse  before  we  would  be  invited  again,  so  we 
early  learned  to  smile  very  softly  at  nuptials. 

It  was  a  solemn  moment  when  Mr.  Conant  called  his 
son  John  one  Sabbath  morning,  because  of  whispering 
and  laughing,  to  occupy  the  pulpit  stairs  during  the  re- 
mainder of  his  sermon;  the  younger  portion  of  the  con- 
gregation was  overpowered  by  fears  lest  similar  honours 
were  hanging  heavily  over  their  heads  in  the  near  future. 
Mr.  Charles  Patten,  at  the  close  of  the  morning's  service, 
in  referring  to  John's  blushes  on  that  occasion,  said,  "no 
one  can  say  now  that  our  pastor  has  not  one  well  're"d'  son. " 

We  always  enjoyed  hearing  the  Conant  boys  tell  the 
following  story  of  their  mother:  One  Sunday  'afternoon 
Mr.  Conant  was  holding  services  in  a  school  house  a  few 
miles  distant  from  Geneva,  where  he  gave  out  a  familiar 
hymn  beginning  with  the  words  "Shine  Forth,"  and  find- 
ing no  one  present  to  commence  the  singing,  turned  to  his 
wife  who  was  with  him,  and  asked  her  to  lead  the  singing. 
She  began  "Shine  Forth,"  'but  found  she  had  pitched  the 
tune  too  high  to  go  on,  so  she  paused  and  began  a  second 
time  "Shine  Forth,"  but  what  was  her  dismay  to  find  this 


86  Random  Reminiscences. 

time  it  was  too  low  to  continue,  so  she  desisted  and  a 
third  time  tried  to  "Shine  Forth,"  but  the  ludicrousness  of 
it  all  overcame  her  and  she  gave  up  entirely.  Mrs. 
Conant  used  to  say,  amid  our  laughter,  she  had  never 
tried  from  that  time  to  "shine." 

The  one  act  of  Mr.  Con  ant's  which  impressed  me 
the  most  as  a  child,  and  has  influenced  me  always,  was 
an  apology  he  once  made  for  the  manner  and  tone  of  a 
hasty  speech  on  a  political  subject  involving  a  principle 
to  which  he  was  a  devoted  adherent  all  his  life.  I 
never  heard  this  referred  to  without  much  speculation. 
I  wondered  how  he  could  do  it,  being  a  grown  man,  and 
believing  firmly  he  was  in  the  right.  I  thought  then  I 
should  never  apologize  when  I  grew  to  be  a  woman,  but 
all  the  while  there  beat  in  my  heart  a  belief  in  that  man's 
religion  who  could  be  sorry  and  say  so;  I  have  lived  to 
learn,  one  ought  "from  the  cradle  to  the  grave"  to  be 
often  sorry  and  say  so. 

We  moved  away  from  Geneva  for  several  years,  then 
went  back.  I  was  there  during  Mr.  Woodward's  pastor- 
ate, but  was  at  an  age  when  church  affairs  did  not  occupy 
great  space  in  my  mind;  the  one  thing  which  impressed 
me  was,  Mr.  Woodward  allowed  the  young  people  of  the 
society  to  dance,  play  cards  and  act  charades  in  his  house ; 
this  met  with  some  criticism,  but  I  believe  the  result 
proved  there  was  less  general  dissipation  among  those 
who  had  this  privilege  than  among  those  who  were  denied 
these  amusements. 

I  cannot  close  this  paper  without  reference  to  the 
women  who  were  members  of  the  Unitarian  Society  of 
Geneva  when  1  was  there  a  growing  girl ;  they  had  then, 
they  still  have,  an  enduring  influence  over  me.  I  am  yet 
trying  to  order  my  conversation,  my  manners,  my  life 
after  their  model.  "Strength  and  honour  were  their 


Random   Reminiscences.  87 

clothing — they  opened  their  mouths  with  wisdom,  and  in 
their  tongues  was  the  law  of  kindness — they  looked  well 
to  the  ways  of  their  households  and  ate  not  the  bread  of 
idleness."  I,  with  many  others  "arise  and  call  them 
blessed,"  having  known  them  a  "Trust  in  all  things 
high"  comes  easy  to  me. 

I  have  lived  the  greater  part  of  the  half-century  in 
orthodox  communities,  but  1  am  still  of  the  liberal  faith, 
and  have  been  thankful  many  times  for  the  larger  trust 
which  that  has  seemed  to  bring  me. 

One  of  the  most  abiding  memories  for  me  of  the 
power  of  that  faith  was  my  mother's  face  during  her  last 
illness  when  an  orthodox  relative  said  to  her:  "I  hope 
you  realize  no  one  can  have  eternal  life  except  through 
belief  in  Jesus  Christ."  My  mother  turned  and  with 
wide  open  eyes,  said  slowly  and  distinctly,  "you  know  I 
do  not  believe  that,  and  I  assure  you  I  am  not  afraid." 


of  (JBarUj 


OF  THE  GENEVA  CHUECH,  BY  MES.  MAEIA  LE  BAEON  TUENEE. 

-^-.••^ 

have  been  requested  to  write  some  of  my  recol- 
lections of  the  earliest  days  of  our  little  church, 
but  when  I  put  on  my  thinking  cap,  I  am 
surprised  as  well  as  ashamed  at  the  meagerness  of  my 
memories  and  their  mundane  character.  When,  however, 
I  thought  of  the  eloquent  flights  of  fancy,  the  tender 
memorials  and  the  entertaining  historical  articles  that 
would  be  written,  I  concluded  that  perhaps  a  few  remem- 
brances of  a  superficial  nature  might  not  be  out  of  place. 
Of  Mr.  Conant's  preaching  my  memory  is  very  faint, 
as  I  was  only  twelve  years  old  when  he  left  us,  but  I  re- 
member the  man  himself  well,  and  how  we  all  loved  him, 
and  yet  one  of  my  most  distinct  recollections  of  that 
noble-hearted  minister  is  one  of  my  worldly  little  mem- 
ories, how  one  Sunday  the  boys  sat  down  in  the  back 
pews  and  fell  to  laughing  and  playing,  as  boys  will  do 
even  ministers'  sons,  and  Mr.  Conant  paused  in  the  midst 
of  his  exhortation  to  sinners  to  repent  and  said,  in  his 
clear,  decisive  way:  "John,  you  may  come  and  sit  here 
on  the  pulpit  stairs."  The  dead  silence  that  fell  upon 


Of  The  Geneva  Church.  89 

the  children  of  that  congregation  could  be  felt.  In  those 
days  fathers  feared  not  to  rebuke  their  children. 

I  remember  also  a  little  social  incident,  connected 
with  Mr.  Conant.  He  was  spending  the  evening  at  an 
informal  gathering  at  the  home  of  one  of  his  parishioners. 
As  the  hostess  passed  cake  to  her  guests,  she  arranged 
an  extra  large  piece  next  her  good  minister  as  she  passed 
the  basket  to  him,  but  he  reached  over  and  took  a  smaller 
piece  beyond.  "Mr.  Conant,"  said  the  good  lady, 
"when  I  was  a  little  girl  I  was  taught  to  take  the  piece 
nearest  me."  "But,"  he  responded  with  his  bright, 
shrewd  smile,  "when  I  was  a  little  boy  I  was  taught 
never  to  take  the  largest  piece." 

I  have  another  little  memory  of  Mr.  Conant,  of  a 
purely  personal  character.  We  children  were  in  the  back 
garden  one  evening,  riding  about  on  our  horses,  which 
horses  were  wooden  sticks,  possessed  of  greater  or  less 
degrees  of  life  and  spirit.  We  heard  that  some  one  was 
calling  on  our  parents  and,  full  of  childish  curiosity,  at 
once  put  our  steeds  to  full  speed  to  ride  to  the  front  on  a 
tour  of  discovery,  exclaiming  in  full  chorus ; '  'Who  is  here  ? 
Who  is  here?"  To  our  consternation  instead  of  the  elders 
being  in  the  parlor  they  were  sitting  in  front  of  the  house 
enjoying,  the  summer  evening.  My  fractious  steed  had 
carried  me  within  reach  of  a  gentleman,  who  at  once 
caught  me  and,  as  my  pony  fell  lifeless  at  my  feet,  he 
drew  me  into  his  arms,  saying  laughingly;  "I  am  here, 
and  I  have  caught  you,"  and  he  kissed  me  most  tenderly. 
It  was  Mr.  Conant,  and  I  well  remember  how,  in  spite  of 
my  shame  and  embarrassment  at  our  unintentional  rude- 
ness, I  felt  a  rapture  of  delight  at  the  affectionate  caresses 
of  my  beloved  minister,  and  when,  after  holding  me  some 
time,  he  released  mo  I  crept  back  to  the  other  children 
feeling  quite  sanctified. 


90  Memories  of  JEarly  Day* 

No  one  can  recollect  more  distinctly  the  noble  men 
and  women  who  attended  church  in  those  bygone  days. 
There  was  that  lovely  gentleman,  Mr.  Samuel  Clark  and 
his  wife  who  was  called  by  those  who  knew  her  best, 
"St.  Polly;"  conscientious  Dr.  LeBaron  and  precious, 
sympathetic  Mrs.  LeBaron,  whose  wise  counsels  and  ex- 
ample served,  in  after  years,  as  guides  to  so  many  of  the 
young  friends  who  gathered  at  her  home,  and  her  sister, 
Miss  Carr,  the  dear  "Auntie  Carr"  who  is  with  us  yet. 
Then  there  were  the  three  Clark  sisters,  Harriet,  Caroline 
and  Ellen,  whom  we  all  remember  better  by  their  married 
names,  Mrs.  Patten,  Mrs.  Wilson  and  Mrs.  Davis.  Mrs. 
Davis  did  not  live  in  Geneva  after  her  marriage,  but  I 
never  can  forget  when  she  was  at  church  how  she  used  to 
sing.  She  would  open  her  mouth  and  the  music  would 
pour  forth  as  free  and  clear  as  the  song  of  a  bird.  They 
were  all  musical  and  when  visitors  would  ask  Mrs.  Patten 
to  play  on  the  piano  for  them  she  would  demurely  reply: 
"Thank  you,  I  don't  play,  Caroline. plays."  Then,  after 
listening  to  some  of  Mrs.  Wilson's  delightful  music,  they 
would  urge  her  to  sing  and  she  would  respond  with  equal 
modesty:  "I  do  not  sing,  Harriet  sings,"  and  so  they 
would  get  even  with  each  other.  We  hope  they  are  all 
three  singing  together  now  in  their  home  beyond  the  skies. 

Then  there  was  our  lovely  Mrs.  Larrabee,  with  her 
great  mother  heart,  and  dear  Mrs.  Dodson  who  always 
sat  in  the  same  pew  and  never  looked  a  day  older  as  the 
years  rolled  by  in  tens  and  twenties.  She  never  forgot 
the  little  child  she  lost  and,  I  think,  never  heard  a  refer- 
ence to  death  or  little  children  from  the  pulpit  without 
the  tears  of  tender  memories  filling  her  loving  eyes. 

Of  Mr.  Woodward's  pastorate,  my  memories  are 
very  pleasant.  His  was  the  reign  of  sociability,  as  was 
most  natural,  since  his  own  family  contained  every  ele- 


Of  The  Geneva  Church.  91 

mont  of  social  charm,  a  cheerful,  hospitable  host,  a  de- 
lightful hostess  and  charming  young  people.  Cannot  all 
those  who  were  young  people  in  the  old  church  days  re- 
member that  it  was  during  Mr.  Woodward's  stay  here  that 
we  enjoyed  the  most  delightful  social  gatherings  of  all 
kinds?  There  were  celebrations  arid  entertainments  of 
tableaux  and  music,  amateur  theatricals  that  have  never 
been  excelled,  church  sociables  that  were  really  sociable 
and  one  entertainment,  that  stands  forth  most  distinctly, 
was  the  pretty  cantata,  "The  Flower  Queen,"  though  to 
Mr.  Harvey  the  success  of  that  was  due,  as  he  was  the 
manager  and  inspirer  and  singing  master.  I  think  it  was 
sung  for  the  benefit  of  the  church,  and  so  can  be  appro- 
priately mentioned  here,  but  you  who  remembej-  it  will 
not  object  to  dwelling  on  the  memory.  How  sweet  was 
our  lovely  rose,  Nellie  Larrabee;  how  stately  Julia  Dod- 
son,  the  sunflower;  how  charming  was  Louise  Towner,  the 
hollyhock,  and  how  sweetly  modest,  her  younger  sister, 
as  the  crocus;  while  Alice  Woodward,  as  dahlia,  filled  the 
old  court  room  with  her  fresh  young  voice.  Then  there 
were  Theresa  Clark  Mollie  Larrabee  and  Mary  Yates, 
singing  their  duets  and  trios  together,  and  the  pretty 
groups  of  heather  bells  and  bright  faced  chorus  singers, 
while  Emory  Abbott  sang  the  part  of  the  recluse  in  his 
sweat,  sympathetic  voice.  I  can  see  them  all  as  if  it 
were  yesterday. 

Thinking  of  singing  reminds  me  of  another  of  Mr. 
Woodward's  specialties,  his  choirs.  When  he  came 
among  us  we  had  a  good  choir,  led,  I  think,  by  Mr. 
Harvey  and  composed  of  Julia  Plato,  Carrie  Larrabee, 
Mary  Wells,  Charlie  Stevens  and,  unless  my  memory  fails 
me,  Henry  Pierce;  but  when  the  Harveys  went  to  Aurora 
and  the  Stevens  soon  after  to  Batavia,  we  were  in  danger 
of  beino;  left  "to  die  with  all  our  music  in  us."  This 


92  Memories  of  Early  Days 

emergency  was  Mr.  Woodward's  opportunity  and  he  came 
to  the  rescue,  organized  and  trained  the  older  young  peo- 
ple and,  from  that  time  on  during  his  stay,  the  music 
was  one  of  the  most  attractive  features  of  our  service. 
First  was  the  older  set  of  girls,  Nellie  Larrabee,  Alice 
Woodward,  Mary  and  Lizzie  Long,  Kate  and  Mary  Curtis, 
Lucy  Moore,  Julia  Dodson  and  others,  while  the  basso 
profundos  were,  Alfred  Woodward,  Russell  Jarvis,  young 
George  Patten,  Emory  Abbott  and  others,  especially  A. 
W.  Adams  who  came  among  us  at  this  time  and  whose 
fine  voice  was  heard  in  our  choir  for  nearly  a  quarter  of 
a  century.  Next  came  the  younger  set,  Lizzie  Woodward, 
Theresa  Clark,  Libbie  Towner,  Maria  LeBaron,  Ella  Plato 
and  Minnie  Wright,  with  Jessie  Nelson  to  play  the  me-' 
lodeon,  and  in  those  good,  old  days  the  choir  sang  in  a 
gallery  that  went  across  the  back  of  the  church  and,  dur- 
ing the  singing  of  the  hymns,  we  all  turned  round  and 
looked  up  at  the  fresh  young  faces  and  enjoyed  that  as 
much  as  the  music.,  that  was  often  poured  forth  with  more 
vim  than  skill.  Mr.  Woodward  had  in  his  own  family 
an  entire  .quartette  of  fine  voices,  and  often  did  Mrs. 
Woodward's  grand  alto  give  finish  and  culture  to  the 
younger  voices  that  formed  the  choir. 

Another  thing  that  was  carried  to  perfection  during 
Mr.  Woodward's  stay  was  church  decoration,  especially 
at  Christmas  time.  We  were  not  hampered  by  artistic 
criticism,  nor  fear  of  repeating  ourselves,  nor  was  the 
church  too  good  or  new  to  drive  nails  into,  wherever  they 
seemed  desirable.  The  sole  and  only  idea  was  to  make 
the  church  a  bower  of  beauty,  and  so  we  nailed  long  fes- 
toons of  evergreens  everywhere  and  hung  up  crosses  and 
anchors  and  wreaths  arid  put  texts  of  green  letters  over 
windows  and  pulpit  and  gallery,  and  that  homely  old 
gallery  became,  for  the  time  being,  a  thing  of  beauty,  a 


Of  The  Geneva  Church.  93 

living  platform,  a  green  frame  for  the  sweet  singers  who 
chanted  the  Christmas  hymns.  And  that  dear  old  pulpit! 
I  would  love  to  see  that  pulpit  once  more.  I  think  I  have 
heard  it  called  ugly,  but  I  cannot  remember  it  so.  It  was 
beautiful  to  my  youthful  eyes,  and  such  a  fine  thing  to 
trim.  We  could  wind  green  all  around  the  pillars  and 
nail  it  about  the  top  and  bottom,  and  make  such  a  mass 
of  greenery  of  it,  that  we  thought  it  perfect. 

I  could  continue  these  memories  to  more  recent  times, 
but  have  already  used  more  space  than  I  expected,  and 
have  written  more  for  my  own  amusement  than  with  any 
idea  that  this  will  be  used  during  the  semi-centennial 
exercises. 


AT  THE  HOME  OF  ME.    J.     D.     HARVEY,     SATURDAY    JUNE  11   AT 
IP.    M. ,    REV.    GEO.    B.    PENNEY  PRESIDING. 

FTER  partaking  of  the  refreshments  served 
by  the  ladies,  Mr.  Penney  called  the  guests 
to  order,  under  the  shade  of  the  trees 
where  they  had  assembled,  by  saying: 

I  purpose  now  turning  this  gathering  into  an  Anarch- 
ist meeting.  You  need  not  be  alarmed  as  I  do  not  in- 
tend to  set  you  to  killing  policemen  or  blowing  up  public 
buildings.  I  simply  wish  to  put  this  session  on  the  basis 
of  the  Anarchist's  ideal  state  where  each  shall  have  due 
regard  for  the  other. 

By  a  glance  at  the  cards  which  are  in  your  hands  you 
will  see  that  our  program  is  unlimited  as  to  quality,  un- 
limited as  to  possible  quantity,  and  that  we  are  limited 
only  as  to  time.  As  American  citizens  we  resent  any- 
thing in  the  nature  of  a  gag  law,  and  if  we  conform  to 
the. true  ideal  of  the  Anarchist,  the  speakers  will  have 
due  regard  for  the  audience  and  the  audience  for  the  speak - 

NOTE: — The  responses  were  stenographically  reported. 


A  Cambrian  Prophet.  95 

ers  and  each  speaker  for  those  who  are  to  follow,  and  we 
shall  find  repressive  measures  unnecessary. 


31  ©(*mt»tfl£m  tyvovhet.      REV.  JENKIN  LLOYD  JONES. 
It  takes  a  revealing  stud  to  understand  God's  revelation. 

From  observation  of  similar  occasions  I  conceive  it 
to  be  the  duty  of  a  Toastmaster  to  make  pleasantly  ap- 
parent the  fitness  of  the  various  speakers  to  respond  to 
the  subjects  assigned  them;  but  no  words  of  mine  are 
necessary  to  make  it  fully  apparent  why  Mr.  Jones,  kins- 
man of  R.  L.  Herbert  the  fourth  pastor  of  the  society 
should  respond  to  the  first  toast  on  our  list. 
MR.  JONES'  RESPONSE. 

The  task  assigned  to  me  carries  me  far  beyond  the  connection 
of  Mr.  Herbert  with  the  Geneva  Society.  I  remember  when  a 
soldier  boy  in  the  tented  field,  my  father,  ever  quick  to  discover 
any  note  of  progress,  got  into  the  habit  of  sending  me  frequently 
a  copy  of  the  Drych,  a  Welsh  paper  published  in  Utica,  N.  Y., 
which  gave  frequent  correspondence  from  Vermont,  signed  by  the 
letters,  "R.  L.  H."  and  my  father  used  to  send  word  along  that 
there  was  a  "man  that  would  soon  grow  too  large  for  his  orthodox 
fetters."  "Ti;ere  was  the  man  to  be  looked  for."  The  world  went 
on  and  the  visits  of  the  Drych  became  less  frequent  to  camp.  I  had 
lost  sight  of  the  initials.  My  father  had  not.  When  in  the  first 
year  of  my  work  in  Janesville  I  began  publishing  those  little  les- 
son leaves  that  wero  used  in  the  Sunday  Schools  in  our  primitive 
times,  I  received  one  day  an  order,  briefly  expressed,  but  written 
in  the  most  exquisite  penmanship,  from  Fair  Haven,  Vt.,  enclosing 
subscription  for  copies  of  my  Sunday  School  lesson,  signed  "R.  L. 
Herbert."  Instantly  the  "R.  L.  H."  of  my  war  experience  came  to 
me,  and  I  wrote  to  my  father  at  once  that  I  had  struck  "R.  L.  H." 
again. 

Soon  after  that  I  learned  that  a  Methodist  church  in  Iowa 
was  in  theological  trouble;  and  that  they  had  sent  East  for  a 
Methodist  minister,  who  was  also  in  theological  trouble,  to  preach 
the  dedication  sermon  of  the  church  at  Marion,  Iowa.  It  turned 
out  that  it  was  my  mystic  correspondent  "R.  L.  H."  From  that 
sprung  a  correspondence  which  a  few  months  afterwards  brought 
him  to  Janesville,  Wis.,  to  one  of  our  Wisconsin  conference  meet- 
ings In  the  press  of  delegates  visiting  the  town  on  the  first  even- 


96  A  Man  without  Guile. 

ing,  there  crowded  to  the  front  a  little  man  with  long  hair;  without 
waiting  for  introduction  or  any  preliminary  courtesy,  he  said,  "Is 
this  Jones?"  I  said,  "Yes."  And  then  I  found  myself  clasped  in 
the  iron  embrace  of  this  man,  more  hearty  and  as  explosive  as 
that  with  which  school  girls  greet  each  other  after  a  long  absence. 
From  that  time  to  the  day  of  his  death,  our  spirits  clasped  as 
ardently  as  his  arms  had  enveloped  me.  I  found  him  indeed  a 
"Cambrian  Prophet."  The  sauce  he  gave  to  life  was  none  of  your 
sickly  sweet  preserve,  but  a  sauce  flavored  with  a  sense  of  the  im- 
perfection and  the  weakness  of  the  world.  His  earnest  words  were 
seasoned  with  a  painful  sense  of  the  bad  there  is  about  us,  and 
so  of  course  his  life  burned  itself  out  on  those  high  prophetic 
plains  which  measures  life  not  "by  figures  on  a  dial,  but  by  heart 
beats."  His  oft  quoted  line,  which  he  adapted  for  himself,  was 
taken  from  the  lines  of  one  of  the  old  Druid  Bards,  which  says, 
"Let  me  love  and  thrill  or  let  me  die."  When  the  summons  came 
to  attend  his  funeral  away  off  under  the  shadows  of  the  Rocky 
Mountains,  I  was  unable  to  reach  there  in  time  to  discharge  that 
tender  office,  but  five  days  after  the  earth  closed  over  his  coffin  I 
stood  under  that  cloudless  sky,  over  the  grave  that  held  all  that 
was  perishable  of  R.  L.  Herbert.  The  next  Sunday  I  stood  with 
his  weeping  people  in  the  little  church  at  Denver  and  shared  with 
them,  and  all  others  who  ever  came  within  the  reach  of  his  elec- 
trical spirit,  a  sense  that  something  had  gone  out  of  the  world 
when  his  voice  was  stilled.  So  I  am  glad  to  stand  here  this  mo- 
ment with  you  in  this  glad  anniversary  of  this  Society,  to  claim  a 
part  with  you  in  these  blessed  memories,  and  to  feel,  as  I  said  to 
one  of  your  members  a  moment  ago,  that  however  doubtful  my 
case  may  be  when  I  present  myself  at  the  gate  over  which  St. 
Peter  presides,  if  the  balance  should  be  made  out  against  me  in 
any  and  every  other  respect,  I  think  if,  as  a  last  resort,  I  say,  "But 
dear  St.  Peter,  please  remember  this,  I  had  something  to  do  in 
giving  to  Geneva,  that  Saint's  Rest  on  earth,  as  pastor  to  that 
Church  of  blessed  usefulness,  R.  L.  Herbert,  James  West,  and 
Thomas  Byrnes,"  I  think  he  will  swing  the  gates  open  and  say, 
"Come  in!" 

31  SKem  n»tth<mi  ©ttile.  MRS.  J.  D.  HARVEY. 

-Amid  all  life's  quests 


There  seems  but  worthy  one — to  do  men  good. 

The  Geneva  Society  might  justly  claim  that  its 
chosen  leaders  have  been  men  of  marked  individuality. 
You  heard  this -morning  about  the  "Man  in  Earnest"  and 
Mr.  Jones  has  told  you  of  the  "Cambrian  Prophet"  and 


A  Man  without  Guile.  97 

you  will  now  hear  from  Mrs.  Harvey,  who  speaks  from  per- 
sonal reminiscence  of  ''A  Man  without  Guile,"  George 
Wheelock  Woodward,  pastor  from  1858  to  1863. 
MES.  HARVEY'S  RESPONSE. 

It  has  fallen  to  my  lot  to  do  a  difficult  thing,  to  try  to  do 
justice  to  the  memory  of  our  second  pastor,  "The  Man  without 
Guile"  as  he  has  been  called.  My  difficulty  is,  to  satisfy  myself  at 
this  distance  from  the  meagre  memories  of  thirty  years  ago. 

To  talk  now  from  the  impressions  of  a  girl  of  twenty  about  such 
a  man  would  ba  inexcusable,  if  it  were  not  my  only  opportunity  to 
do  justice  to  a  man,  whom  I  fear  I  did  not  sufficiently  appreciate 
when  he  was  with  us.  Young  people  are  very  critical  and  their 
judgment  seems  to  them  equal  to  any  test,  and  it  makes  me  blush 
now  as  I  recall  the  superior  smiles  we  indulged  in  when  we  thought 
we  detected  an  old  sermon.  How  could  girls  of  twenty  know  that 
such  sermons  as  his,  from  the  text,  "Speak  every  man  the  truth 
of  his  neighbor"  could  not  be  preached  too  many  times  ?  I  doubt 
if  even  now  we  realize  after  thirty  years'  experience,  that  we 
actually  need  such  a  sermon  about  once  a  month.  I  think  ministers 
must  get  very  much  discouraged  over  the  curiosity  that  their  peo- 
ple show  to  see  how  finely  and  strongly  they  can  say  things,  and 
how  many  new  things  they  can  say,  but  never  want  to  hear  them 
the  second  time,  nor  by  any  chance  try  any  of  their  plans,  set 
forth  so  eloquently,  and  see  how  they  might  work. 

George  Wheelock  Woodward  was  born  at  Hanover,  New 
Hampshire,  in  1810.  He  inherited  culture,  intellect  and  refine- 
ment from  a  long  line  of  ancestors,  who  were  all  either  Professors 
or  Presidents  of  Dartmouth  College.  One  English  ancestor 
sleeps  in  Westminster  Abbey,  and  among  his  American  progen- 
itors he  numbared  Miles  Standish,  also  John  Woodward  and  Ebe- 
nezer  Wheelock  who  founded  the  Moore  Charity  School  for  Indian 
children  in  northern  New  Hampshire  about  a  century  ago.  His 
father  was  judge  of  the  Supreme  Court  of  New  Hampshire,  and 
died  when  George  was  only  eight  years  old,  leaving  him  to  the 
care  of  a  most  judicious  mother,  who  supervised  his  education 
with  the  aid  and  advice  of  her  brother,  the  late  George  Ticknor  of 
Boston. 

He  entered  Dartmouth  at  an  early  age,  graduating  with  honor, 
and  afterwards  entered  the  Divinity  School  at  Harvard  where  he 
was  a  close  student,  entering  with  earnestness  and  enthusiasm  in- 
to the  study  of  his  profession. 

After  graduating  he  preached  some  years  in  New  England, 
and  then  removed  to  Galena  in  this  State.  There  he  began  a  sort 
of  itineracy,  preaching  alternately  at  Galena,  Dubuque  and  Savan- 
na, but  he  was  in  advance  of  the  time,  and  after  some  years  of 


98  A  Man  without  Guile. 

faithful  endeavor,  the  Unitarian  work  was  abandoned,  with  such 
heartache  and  disappointment  as  you  ministers  may  understand. 
In  the  meantime  Mr.  Woodward  had  made  for  himself  a  home  in 
Galena  and  identified  himself  with  the  interests  of  the  city.  He 
inaugurated  the  system  of  public  schools  in  that  city  and  was 
elected  County  Superintendent  of  schools  and  afterwards  City  Clerk 
and  Collector  of  taxes,  filling  all  the  positions  most  acceptably. 

Aware  of  Mr.  Woodward's  efficiency  in  any  position  which  he 
had  filled,  in  1857  his  long  time  friend,  Gen.  J.  D.  Webster,  induced 
him  to  come  to  Geneva,  in  his  interest  to  take  charge  of  the  office 
of  the  Danford  Reaper  Company,  and  soon  after,  upon  Mr.  Conant's 
departure  for  Rockford,  this  society  invited  him  to  minister  to 
them,  and  he  found  himself  again  at  work  in  his  chosen  profession. 
The  old  time  fire  flamed  up  again  clear  and  bright  as  he  bore 
testimony  to  the  faith  that  was  within. 

I  find  in  reading  over  his  sermons,  as  I  have  been  privileged  to 
do  recently,  that  most  of  them  were  written  in  the  early  years  of 
his  ministry,  before  he  came  to  Geneva,  but  they  were  remodeled 
and  retouched  for  our  benefit  as  I  well  remember.  As  I  re-read 
these  as  they  were  written  during  the  second  quarter  of  the  cen- 
tury, I  am  impressed  with  the  vigor  and  freshness  of  the  thoughts. 

I  have  heard  it  said  that  Mr.  Woodward  was  in  advance  of  his 
time.  I  see  now  how  it  was  true.  He  does  not  seem  to  have  been 
much  interested  in  what  we  might  call  radical  reforms.  Probably 
he  never  heard  in  those  days  of  charity  organization  yet,  when  he 
preached  the  sermon  from  the  text,  ''Pure  religion  and  undefiled 
before  God  the  Father,  is  this,  to  visit  the  fatherless  and  widows 
in  their  affliction  and  to  keep  himself  unspotted  from  the  world:'' 
when  he  preached  this  sermon,  he  put  all  the  spirit  of  the  motto 
of  the  Charity  Organization  Society.  "Not  alms  but  a  friend,"  into 
the  word  visit,  he  made  it  appear  that  true  charity  was  not  in  that 
easiest  way  of  all,  giving  money,  but  giving  one's  self,  and  that  self 
must  ba  kept  pure  and  unspotted  from  the  world.  The  emphasis 
which  he  laid  upon  the  fact  that  the  two  must  go  together,  was  a 
sermon  in  itself.  How  much  of  such  charity  is  there  in  the  world 
to-day  ?  And  yet  this  young  man  pleaded'  for  it  over  fifty  years 
ago,  as  his  Master  had  done  nearly  twenty  centuries  before. 

He  saw  beyond  many  of  the  plans  for  reforming  the  world,  and 
saw  what  Kindergartners,  individualists,  and  all  the  most  advancad 
people  of  our  time  see  now,  that  it  is  the  individual  that  must  be 
pure  and  good,  that  reforms  must  come  from  within,  not  without: 
and  he  preached  that  we  must  analyze  and  judge  ourselves,  and  we 
shall  see  ourselves  rightly.  He  draw  a  strong  picture  of  the  man 
stripped  of  all  seeming,  standing  at  the  bar  of  his  own  conscience, 
"He  sees  that  his  innocence  was  inaction,  that  he  had  been  unre-, 
proached,  because  unknown.  He  thought  himself  just,  but  was 
only  legal,  temperate  while  he  was  a  cowardly  venturer  to  th.3 


A  Man  without  Guile.  99 

brink  of  excoss;  thought  himsalf  charitable,  but  finds  he  never 
made  a  disinterested  sacrifice  in  his  life;  hospitable,  but  he  was  on- 
ly ostentatious;  zealous  for  truth,  but  it  was  only  for  a  system; 
patriotic,  but  he  was  only  a  partisan;  forgiving  but  only  cowardly. 
Can  we  bear  to  be  stripped  of  our  fancied  excellencies,  and  have 
our  motives  ready  for  analysis?  Do  we  venture  to  look  with  a 
steady  eye  into  our  own  hearts?  Dare  we  read  to  the  bottom  of 
the  page?" 

I  wish  I  had  time  to  tell  you  how  exacting  this  young  man  was 
of  himself,  how  honesty  in  business,  uprightness  in  everything 
was  his  standard.  It  has  been  said  of  him  that  he  carried  this  too 
far  to  succeed.  Perhaps  he  did,  if  success  means  making  money 
and  knowing  how  to  keep  it.  He  was  a  thorough  business  man  in 
the  best  sense  of  the  word.  Promptness,  accuracy,  thrift,  talent 
in  an  artistic  way,  and  public  spirit  he  had.  A  man  who  had  the 
foresight,  the  energy  to  inaugurate  the  public  school  system  in  his 
town,  was  surely  a  success. 

His  favorite  text,  "Whatever  ye  do,  do  all  to  the  glory  of 
God,"  he  carried  into  his  every  day  life,  his  business  and  social  re- 
lations. He  taught  it  in  the  way  he  drilled  the  choir  and  managed 
the  Sunday  School,  always  drawing  out  the  best  work  and  endeavor 
of  the  young  people  in  everything  they  did;  helping  them  to  make 
a  success  of  everything  they  undertook,  if  it  were  only  entertain- 
ing themselves. 

I  remember  his  manner,  dignified  but  cheery,  sympathetic, 
magnetic  but  quick,  imperative,  and,  as  one  of  our  musical  friends 
used  to  say,  staccato  in  his  style.  He  was  kind,  considerate,  but 
rather  strict  in  his  family,  always  busy  working  out  his  mechanical 
and  artistic  ideas  in  many  pretty  pieces  of  furniture  and  house- 
hold conveniences.  He  believed  in  the  dignity  of  labor  and  taught 
it  to  his  children  and  showed  infinite  wisdom  and  patience  in  some 
of  the  most  difficult  problems  of  life.  He  had  many  good  ideas 
regarding  woman's  dress,  which  they  are  only  now  beginning  to 
see.  He  could  teach  your  mothers  how  to  take  better  care  of  their 
babies,  as  I  have  occasion  to  remember. 

With  Schuyler  Colfax  he  was  active  in  establishing  the  I.  O. 
O.  F.  in  this  state,  and  was  grand  master  pf  the  state  and  grand 
representative.  He  was  also  a  Mason  but  was  never  so  active  in 
that  order. 

When  the  wild  storm  of  war  spread  over  all  the  land  he  was 
among  the  earliest  to  the  front,  and  shared  in  all  the  terrors  and 
hardships  of  those  first  dreadful  days.  Port  Henry,  Fort  Donald- 
son, Shiloh,  were  names  whose  meaning  he  knew  only  too  well. 
After  more  than  a  year  of  most  trying  hardships,  when  his  health 
had  utterly  failed,  he  was  "honorably  discharged;"  the  surgeon 
said,  "that  he  might  go  home  and  die  paacafully  with  his  family." 
There  are  some  here  who  will  remember  the  solemn  day  when  the 


100  Other  Pioneers. 

two  ministers  came  back  to  the  little  church  together,  and  one 
gave  no  token  in  return  for  the  loving  greetings,  but  lay  speech- 
less and  cold,  and  the  other,  (only  a  wreck)  said  a  few,  trembling, 
parting  words,  before  you  bore  him  away  to  sleep  among  kings. 

Little  by  little  he  fought  his  way  back  to  a  trifle  firmer  hold 
on  life,  but  the  day  was  forever  darkened.  His  eyesight  was  much 
impaired,  preventing  him  from  very  active  work  the  rest  of  his 
life,  excepting  a  few  years  he  held  the  position  of  Professor  in  the 
college  at  Pulton  for  the  soldiers'  sons.  There  his  influence  was 
fine  upon  the  youth  about  him. 

Few  of  the  young  people  who  came  under  his  influence  but 
were  the  better  for  it.  His  home  and  home  life  impressed  every 
one  who  came  within  its  influence  as  very  sunny  and  bright.  No 
friend  ever  crossed  the  threshhold  of  the  Woodward  house  with- 
out being  made  gladly  and  heartily  welcome;  and  after  all,  is  not 
home  influence  more  potent  and  far  reaching  than  any  other,  es- 
pecially upon  the  young  ?  And  it  is  in  behalf  of  the  young  people 
of  the  church  at  that  time,  that  I  gladly  pay  this  tribute  of  affec- 
tion and  grateful  remembrance  to  the  second  pastor  of  our  little 
church  on  the  corner. 


Other  3Hi«mefir»,  REV.  T.  B.  POKBUSH. 

Nor  much  fastidious  as  to  how  and  when: 
Yet  seasoned  stuff  and  fittest  to  create 
A  thought-staid  army  or  a  lasting  slate. 

We   feel  that  this  1$  a  celebration  not  only  of  the 
Geneva  Unitarian  Society,  but  that  it  is  a  celebration  of 

t/   ' 

Unitarianism  in  the  West;  and  especially  of  the  Western 
Movement  which  the  Geneva  church  seems  to  typify  in 
so  many  ways.  We  will  hear  from  Mr.  Forbush,  a  man 
who,  from  his  position,  as  overlooking  the  field  is  well 
fitted  to  tell  us  something  of  4  'Other  Pioneers. ' ' 
MR.  FORBDSH'S  RESPONSE. 

It  is  one  of  the  felicities  of  being  a  Unitariarrminister,  that 
you  are  perfectly  sure,  if  you  only  live  long  enough,  when  you  die 
you  will  be  reckoned  one  of  the  Saints;  and  as  I  think  back  over 
the  list  of  men  whom  in  the  early  years  of  my  ministry  I  was 
privileged  to  know  in  this  wjst3rn  country,  it  saams  to  me  that 
they  all  ought  to  have  the  "St."  prefixed  to  their  namss.  This 
church  in  order  of  establishment  was  the  eighth  church  west  of 
the  Alleghanies.  The  'pioneer  church  was  the  church  at  Mead- 


Other  Pioneers.  101 

ville,  founded  by  that  grand  old  man,  Hiram  Huidekoper,  in  1825. 
Through  the  influence  of  Mr.  Huidekoper,  there  came  to  Cincin- 
nati and  Louisville  Ephraim  Peabody  and  James  Freeman  Clarke, 
both  establishing  themselves  for  a  little  while  in  those  Southern 
towns  in  1830;  then  in  1831  came  William  G.  Eliot  to  St.  Louis. 
In  1836  the  church  of  the  Messiah  in  Chicago  got  itself  organized, 
though  who  its  first  pastor  was  I  do  not  know.  In  1840  the  church 
at  Quincy  was  established  and  in  1842  this  church  at  Geneva. 
When  it  was  my  privilege- first  to  make  the  acquaintance  of- the 
west,  Hosmer  at  Buffalo,  Stebbins  at  Meadville,  Livermore  at  Cin- 
cinnati, Hey  wood  at  Louisville,  Eliot  at  St.  Louis,  Shippen  at  Chi- 
cago, Mumford  at  Detroit,  Billings  at  Quincy,  and  your  own  Conant 
here  in  Geneva,  were  the  ministers  of  the  West.  That  was  in 
1853;  and  of  those  men  only  three  now  remain  to  us.  Two  with  the 
very  aureola  of  sainthood  around  their  reverend  heads;  those  dear 
old  men,  Heywood  at  Louisville  and  Livermore  in  his  retreat  up 
among  the  hills  of  New  Hampshire;  while  Shippen  is  our  honored 
minister  at  the  Nation's  Capital.  At  that  same  time  or  very  soon 
afterwards,  there  came  to  Alton,  Haley  with  his  beautiful  young 
wife;  his  friend  Withington  following  very  soon  afterwards  to 
Hillsboro.  About  the  same  time,  for  they  were  all  classmates, 
John  Murray  organized  the  Unitarian  church  at  Rockford,  and 
Kelsey,  Conant's  brother-in-law,  established  himself  at  Dixon. 

The  first  sermon  that  I  gave  in  the  state  of  Illinois  was  spoken 
in  the  little  church  at  Dixon,  where  the  voice  of  a  liberal  minister, 
I  am  sorry  to  say,  has  not  baen  heard  for  ever  and  ever  so  long. 

What  shall  I  say  of  these  man  ?  Simply  that  they  were  faith- 
ful soldiers  in  the  beginning  of  a  crusade  here  in  this  western 
country  against  the  old  theology,  and  in  favor  of  the  enlightened 
liberal  religion  in  which  we  now  rejoice.  Some  of  them  succeeded. 
In  the  sight  of  men  some  of  them  failed.  The  matter  of  success 
or  failure  was  not  so  much  a  matter  of  faithfulness  and  earnestness 
as  it  was  a  matter  of  location.  I  am  told  that  William  G.  Eliot 
preached  the  first  winter  in  St.  Louis  half  the  time  to  less  than  a 
dozen  people.  St.  Louis  grew  and  William  G.  Eliot's  church  grew 
with  it.  My  friend  Kelsey  went  to  Dixon  and  preached  there  to 
a  congregation  larger  than  Eliot's.  But  Dixon  did  not  grow  and 
Kelsey  was  forced  to  leave. 

I  must  not  dwell  upon  these  early  pioneers;  I  can  only  mention 
them.  Their  very  names  will  call  up  to  you  memories  more  sweet 
and  more  refreshing  than  any  which  my  words  would  awaken. 
Just  so  it  is  to-day  all  over  this  great  western  country.  For  where 
fifty  years  ago  there  were  seven  churches  west  of  the  Alleghanies, 
to-day  there  are  between  one  hundred  and  thirty  and  one  hundiW 
and  forty  churches,  and  a  great  many  of  them  are  working  among 
just  the  same  obstacles,  with  just  the  same  possible  chances  of  suc- 
dess  or  failure,  that  Geneva  had  fifty  years  ago:  that  Rockford. 


102  Letter. 

and  Dixon  and  Alton  had  afterwards.  I  was  very  much  interested 
in  the  paper  which  we  heard  this  morning  concerning  Mr.  Conant, 
because  it  recalled  to  me  so  vividly  just  the  things  that  are  coming 
into  my  daily  life  now,  of  men  working  here  and  there  on  the  wide 
plains  of  Dakota,  in  the  fastnessses  of  the  Rocky  Mountains,  and 
away  up  in  the  frozen  wilds  of  Manitoba;  working  just  the  same, 
whether  in  log  cabins  or  in  little  school  houses,  wherever  they  can 
get  a  chance  to  speak  the  word  which  is  to  them  and  to  many  of 
their  hearers  the  word  of  life.  And  when  I  recall  how  some  of 
them  do  not  get  any  more  than  that  two  hundred  and  fifty  dollars 
which  Mr.  Conant  received,  and  have  to  take  some  of  that  in 
"truck,"  then  I  feel  that  the  conditions  of  pioneering  are  not  over 
yet  in  this  country.  There  is  pioneering  still  to  be  done  here  in 
Illinois.  There  is  pioneering  all  the  way  west  until  you  strike 
the  Pacific  Ocean.  And  when  it  is  all  done  here,  we  may  be  left, 
to  pioneer  in  the  Sandwich  and  Fiji  Islands. 

Friends,  this  same  spirit  that  stimulated  Conant  when  he 
planted  himself  here  at  Geneva  is  what  we  want  in  our  young  men 
to-day,  and  the  same  spirit  that  animated  the  people  of  Geneva 
when  Conant  planted  himself  here  is  the  spirit  we  need  all  over 
this  wide  West  to-day.  I  firmly  believe  that  wherever  there  is  that 
spirit  in  the  man  and  that  spirit  in  the  people,  success  is  sure. 

Let  me  tell  a  little  story,  to  illustrate  the  other  side  of  the 
case.  Why  did  Geneva  succeed  and  Dixon  fail  ?  The  morning 
after  I  preached  at  Dixon  I  was  riding  into  Chicago  with  a  Dixon 
man  who  came  and  sat  by  my  side  and  said  to  me  very  confidently 
''My  friend,  there  can  be  built  just  the  biggest  church  right  here 
in  Dixon  of  anywhere  in  the  state  of  Illinois,  provided  you  will 
send  us  the  right  man."  "Now,"  he  said,  "We  could  easily  raise  a 
thousand  dollars  a  year  for  Starr  King."  That  is  the  secret  of  the 
whole  thing.  Geneva  took  the  man  that  came  to  it  and  gave  him 
what  they  could.  Dixon  waited  for  Starr  King  at  a  thousand  dol- 
lars a  year,  and  is  waiting  yet. 

gettev,  ROBERT  COLLYER. 

I  don't  think  I  ever  heard  of  a  Unitarian  during  the 
first  eighteen  or  twenty  years  of  my  life,  except  in  terms 
that  tended  to  prejudice  my  mind  against  them  as  a  class 
of  people  to  avoid  as  I  would  avoid  a  pestilence.  The 
one  man  who  did  more  than  any  other  to  remove  that 
prejudice  was  Robert  Colly er  in  the  few  times  that  I 
heard  him  at  the  University  Chapel,  and  occasionally 
meeting  him  at  the  Sage  College  table.  And  although  he 


Letter.  '103 

cannot  be  with  us  to-day  he  has  sent  his  greeting,  which 
I  will  call  upon  Mr.  Harvey  to  read. 

LETTER  BEAD  BY  MB.  HABVEY. 

DEAR  FRIENDS:— 

I  would  love  to  be  with  you  when  you  celebrate  your  golden 
wedding  in  the  church  made  sacred  to  me  by  many  memories,  but 
I  cannot  come  and  so  must  send  my  greeting  and  blessing  by  what 
the  Scotch  call  "a  scart  o'  my  pen." 

But  it  comes  from  my  heart  you  may  be  sure  because  you  are 
enshrined  there,  and  as  far  away  as  I  am  from  you,  when  once  and 
again  I  find  some  one  who  can  tell  me  how  you  fare;  it  is  almost  as 
when  I  light  on  a  man  from  the  old  home  nest  over  the  sea,  so 
eager  I  am  to  hear  all  about  you  and  wipe  the  film  from  the  picture 
I  treasure  of  the  old  chapel  and  of  those  who  gathered  there  when 
I  first  came  to  know  you  more  than  thirty  years  ago.  You  had 
not  come  to  your  silver  wedding  even  then, t but  had  given  bonds 
for  this  you  are  to  celebrate  in  the  faithful  keeping  of  the  vows 
you  made  to  have  and  to  hold  a  church  of  your  faith  and  order  in 
Geneva  "for  richer,  for  poorer,  for  better,  for  worse,"  so  long  as 
you  should  live,  and  to  maintain  her  as  we  try  to  maintain  our 
homes  in  all  good  will  and  good  fellowship  toward  the  churches  of 
other  names  but  still  to  say,  here  is  our  home  place  and  worthy  of 
all  our  love. 

And  it  was  no.  wonder  that  I  should  be  drawn  to  you  and  yours 
because  it  was  my  good  fortune  to  know  your  first  minister  and  to 
count  him  very  soon  among  my  dear  friends;  to  see  him  often  in 
the  two  years  that  lay  between  our  first  meeting  and  the  time 
when  he  went  as  chaplain  to  give  his  life  to  the  Republic;  to  ren- 
der my  poor  tribute  to  his  rare  and  noble  manhood  when  his  dust 
was  brought  home  for  burial,  and  to  write  a  memoir  of  his  good, 
true  life.  And  it  was  in  writing  the  memoir  that  I  caught  the 
thread  of  the  story  of  your  church  he  gathered  and  organized  fifty 
years  ago  and  of  the  little  band  of  men  and  women  who  were  his 
''helpers  in  the  Lord;"  the  noble  and  beautiful  story  of  the  faith 
and  courage  which  lay  in  the  sowing  that  has  ripened  for  your 
reaping  and  happy  harvest  home:  how  a  hope  dawned  first  that 
such  a  church  might  be  gathered — rather  a  forlorn  hope  I  said  as  I 
read  his  journals,  but  here  was  the  man  to  lead  it — arid  the  twenty 
ail  told  who  said,  we  will  follow,  and  so  the  hope  won  the  day  by 
faith  and  courage.  So  the  house  of  the  Lord  was  built  at  which  he 
he  worked  as  he  found  the  time  with  his  own  clever  hands  and 
then  from  the  date  of  his  settlement  to  the  close  of  his  ministry 
among  you  of  sixteen  years  he  was  only  absent  from  his  own  pulpit 
on  three  Sundays. 

Nor  could   the  pulpit  and  parish,  with  what  these  mean  to  so 


104  Letter. 

many  of  us  now,  satisfy  his  desire  to  be  "a  workman  that  needeth 
not  to  be  ashamed."  He  must  labor  with  his  own  hands  at  many 
things  besides  the  church  that  he  might  not  be  a  burden  to  you 
when  you  were  all  poor  together  in  this  world's  goods  and  only  rich 
in  faith  and  hope.  He  must  do  many  things  one  never  thinks  of 
doing  now,  that  he  might  make  ends  meet  and  tie,  and  use  the 
pioneer's  axe  and  saw  on  week  days  as  truly  as  he  used  the  Bible 
on  Sundays.  And  so  in  the  journal  he  left  there  is  the  raciest  rec- 
ord of  minister  and  man  I  have  ever  laid  eyes  on.  Sunday  is 
sacred  but  the  week  day's  work  is  blended  of  the  secular  and  sacred 
while  all  flames  sacred  as  you  read  because  of  the  man  as  he  tells 
you  day  by  day  how  he  "Wrote  at  a  sermon  and  made  a  door. 
Worked  at  a  sermon  and  doctored  sore  eyes.  Made  a  plan  for  a  ser- 
mon and  a  pair  of  quilting  frames.  Read  Neander  and  made  a  chair. 
Wrote  at  a  sermon  and  drew  wood, snow  two  feet  deep.  Doctored  a 
sick  horse  and  cut  wood.  Read  Neander  and  horse  died.  Read  Ne- 
ander and  mended  a  pump.  Wrote  at  a  sermon,  read  Neander  and 
made  a  wheelbarrow.  Planned  a  sermon  and  made  a  bedstead  for 
the  cobbler." 

The  cobbler  was  a  cripple,  helpless  and  very  poor  when  he 
came  to  live  among  you.  He  could  mend  shoes  if  he  could  find  a 
place  to  live  and  work  in,  but  there  was  no  place.  Well,  your 
minister  built  a  place  for  him  and  furnished  it  with  his  own  hands: 
got  him  all  the  wood  he  wanted  for  the  winter,  sawed,  split  and 
piled  it  for  him;  got  in  provisions  for  him.  You  gave  him  work 
to  do,  who  are  still  alive  and  remain,  and  the  result  was  the  hap- 
piest cobbler  in  Kane  county,  with  never  a  doubt  in  his  heart  about 
such  a  liberal  Christianity.  So  the  story  stands  to  his  name  first 
and  then  to  yours  of  the  early  years  when  he  was  your  minister 
and  faithful  friend, while  he  has  no  word  to  say  of  a  day  lost  in  dis- 
mal reflections  over  the  contrips  of  nature  and  the  world  we  live 
in,  or  in  growling  because  things  do  not  always  run  to  suit  Augus- 
tus H.  Conant,  no  report  of  a  fevered  Saturday  or  a  blue  Monday. 
And  so  he  being  dead,  yet  speaketh  on  the  day  of  your  jubilee  and 
it  is  all  as  healthy  as  well  baken  brown  bread,  and  apples,  sweet 
and  sound  to  the  core.  I  mind  also  with  affection  the  minister 
who  was  with  you  when  we  first  foregathered  Mr.  Woodward 
whose  face  was  a  benediction.  He  also  was  my  friend,  but  here  I 
must  pause  and  only  stir  up  your  minds  by  way  of  remembrance, 
'  leaving  the  story  of  the  later  years  to  be  told  as  it  lies  in  your  own 
hearts  and  minds. 

But  may  I  say  now  that  in  these  years  I  have  wondered  once 
and  again  whether  the  good  old  church  would  hold  on  to  her  life 
in  the  hard  times  you  have  had  to  meet  and  master;  but  there  you 
ai*e  and  will  be,  when  this  script  comes  to  you,  singing  the  song  of 
your  golden  wedding  and  looking  forward  from  that  to  your  well 
rounded  cantury.  And  then  from  that  as  my  faith  and  hope  stands 


Early  Women.  105 

those  who  will  bz  with  you  as  little  children  now,  may  be  so  great 
of  heart  that  they  will  only  be  content  to  look  forward  to  the 
thousand  years  when  the  small  one  of  the  faith  we  hold  has  be- 
come a  great  nation,  for  sure  I  am  that  this  truth  of  the  one  living 
and  trus  God,  our  Father  on  which  our  churches  are  founded,  will 
be  that  of  our  common  Christendom  in  the  good  time  coming,  but 
greater  still  and  nobler  then  as  the  harvest  is  greater  and  nobler 
than  the  sowing  of  the  seed,  for  believe  me, 

"Through  the  ages  one  increasing  purpose  runs, 
And   the   thoughts  of  men  are  widened  with  the   process    of 
the  suns." 

Indeed  always  yours, 
New  York,  May  23,  1892.  ROBERT  COLLYER. 

OBarltj  ^tUcrtnen.  MRS.  MARY  P.  JARVIS. 

Through  suffering  and  sorrow  thou  hast  passed 
To  show  us  what  a  woman  true  may  be. 

You  heard  it  said  this  morning  that  "This  has  always 
been  a  woman's  church"  and  now  Mrs.  Mary  P.  Jarvis, 
one  of  the  women  who  helped  to  give  us  such  an  honor- 
able reputation  will  tell  us  something  of  the  other  '  'Early 
Women." 

MRS.  JARVIS'  RESPONSE. 

It  is  rather  hard  for  you,  after  hearing  these  speeches,  which 
must  have  been  so  clear  to  you,  to  be  obliged  to  listen  to  one  who 
is  not  accustomed  to  public  speaking. 

Of  the  work  of  the  women  in  the  earliest  days  of  the  church 
I  have  no  personal  knowledge,  but  the  Church  and  Sunday  School 
in  which,  I  was  interested  from  the  time  we  came  to  Geneva,  in 
1855,  showed  the  effect  of  their  faithful  work.  Among  these,  and 
of  those  whose  work  had  then  ceased  were,  Mrs.  Scotto  Clark,  Mrs. 
Betsey  Stelle  Carr,  and  Mrs.  Mary  Jane  Whiting,  (who  was  inde- 
fatiga'ble  in  the  work  w^hile  here,  and  continued  her  aid,  even  after 
her  failing  health  required  her  to  leave  Geneva, )  and  others  whose 
names  are  unfamiliar  to  me. 

I  found  the  Church,  Unitarian  as  it  was,  had  already  inaugu- 
rated two  Saints,  St.  Polly  and  St.  Maria — Mrs.  Sam'l  Clark  and 
Miss  Maria  Clark— all  who  knew  them,  know  that  they  were 
worthy  of  canonization. 

The  first  thing  which  str.'.ck  me  as  a  newcomer,  was  the  hos- 
pitality which  welcomed  us  to  the  church  and  made  it  a  home  to  us. 


106  The  Original  Geneva. 

Though  a  Unitarian  from  childhood  my  first  home-feeling  in  a 
church  was  in  the  little  church  of  Geneva.  As  an  illustration  of 
this  hospitality,  I  well  remember  that  one  Sunday  when  Mrs. 
Chas.  Patten  called  for  me  (as  was  her  frequent  custom)  she  said, 
"We  must  have  very  little  to  say  to  each  other  to-day,  for  there 
are  many  strangers  present,  and  we  must  devote  ourselves  to  them." 

The  teachers  of  the  Sunday  School  were  chiefly  women;  a  few 
of  the  men  (to  their  praise  be  it  spoken)  also  had  classes.  An  in- 
cident in  which  Mrs.  Chas.  Patten  was  concerned  as  a  teacher,  oc- 
curs to  me,  an  amusing  effect  of  Unitarian  teaching.  In  Mrs. 
Patten's  class  was  a  little  black  girl  whom  Miss  Orton  had  taken 
to  bring  up.  Going  home  from  Sunday  School  the  child  passed 
through  our  place,  and  was  attracted  by  the  ripe,  red  cherries, 
climbed  the  trees  and  helped  herself  bountifully.  Miss  Orton 
tried  to  bring  her  to  repant  of  her  wrongdoing,  but  in  vain. 
"Oh,"  said  the  child,  "There  is  no  hell,  Mrs.  Patten  says  so.  I 
ain't  afraid." 

This  hospitality  of  which  I  have  spoken,  was  shown  in  the 
homes  of  these  women  as  well  as  in  the  church.  I  well  remember 
the  pleasant  social  gatherings  at  Mrs.  Chas.  Patten's,  who  having 
no  children,  was  more  free  for  social  duties  but  not  infrequently 
the  gatherings  were  at  Mrs.  Wilson's,  Mrs.  Dodson's,  Mrs.  Larra- 
bee's,  Mrs.  LeBaron's,  Mrs.  Geo.  Patten's  and  at  many  other  of  the 
homes.  Gatherings  for  charitable  purposes,  for  Sunday  School 
teachers,  etc.  I  have  not  time  for  the  further  mention  of  names — 
I  wish  to  make  no  invidious  distinctions.  I  can  only  say  of  these 
women  that  they  did  what  they  could. 

It  was  a  great  pleasure  to  me  to  feel  with  what  unanimity  they 
worked,  each  doing  what  the  circumstances  of  her  separate  life 
made  possible;  but  all  zealous  for  the  success  and  welfare  of  Church 
and  Sunday  School.  I  remember  no  dissensions,  even  no  differ- 
ences; all  was  harmonious  combination  for  the  one  purpose — the 
success  of  the  little  Church  so  dear  to  them  all. 


©rigtnal   (fiJffttctm,  MR.  B.  W.  DODSON. 

-methinks  I  would  not  (/row  .so 


Because  sweet  flowers  are  slow  and  weeds  make  haste. 

This  morning  I  welcomed  you  first  to  Geneva.  Ge- 
neva is  just  now  trying  to  have  a  boom;  at  least,  we  are 
growing  a  little,  and  I  know  you  will  be  interested  in 
knowing  something  about  the  early  days  of  our  city.  I 


Fifty  Year*.  107 

will  call  upon  Mr.   Dodson  to  tell  us  of  the  "Original 
Geneva." 

MR.    DODSON'S  RESPONSE. 

Mr.  Chairman,  having  no  address  to  offer  you  to-day  I  will, 
with  your  permission,  speak  my  excuses  from  the  floor,  or  from  the 
ground,  properly  speaking.  I  had  not  thought  to  say  anything,  but 
this  fetching  poetry  that  you  have  put  into  the  toast  for  the 
"Original  Geneva"  is  a  great  temptation,  and  if  I  made  no  further 
address  it  would  be  to  inquire  the  meaning  of  that  poetry  applied 
to  Geneva.  I  am  not  sure  as  to  whether  the  inference  is  that  Ge- 
neva is  growing  too  fast  or  that  there  is  a  superabundance  of 
weeds  here.  Perhaps  it  might  be  claimed  both  ways.  In  lieu  of 
attempting  to  speak  on  the  "Original  Geneva,"  which  I  am  sure 
you  will  all  agree  must  have  been  a  very  beautiful  Geneva,  judging 
from  the  reports  we  hear  about  it,  I  have  thought  to  off  era  sugges- 
tion, and  with  your  permission,  Sir,  I  would  like  to  suggest  that 
prior  to  the  friends  leaving  this  assemblage  that  they  shall  take 
occajion,  each  and  every  one  of  them  to  sign  the  visitors'  register 
which  has  been  started  here,  as  friends  in  Geneva  would  like  to 
retain  a  written  record  of  everybody,  every  individual  who  has 
honored  us  with  his  presence  to-day.  I  have  nothing  further  to 
add,  Sir. 


Umr».      MRS.  JULIA  DODSON  SHEPPARD. 

We  are  now  to  have  what  is  always  regarded  as  a 
great  treat,  an  Author's  Reading.  You  will  notice  on  the 
back  of  our  little  card  a  poem  by  Mrs.  Sheppard,  which 
she  has  kindly  consented  to  read  to  us,  and  I  hope  that 
she  will  see  fit,  or  that  the  spirit  will  move  her,  to  talk  to 
us  also. 

MRS.  SHEPPARD'S  READING. 

My  friends,  it  is  a  disastrous  thing  to  invite  a  person  to  any 
entartamment  who  thinks  she  writes  poetry.  I  have  been  proud 
this  winter  because  I  have  been  making  butter,  all  my  relatives 
have  had  a  portion  of  that  butter,  and  once  when  invited  out,  I 
took  my  butter  with  m3,  and  said  to  my  friend,  "You  have  heard 
of  certain  poets  who  when  invited  out  to  tea,  ask,  'wouldn't  you 
like  to  hear  my  last  poem  ?'  "  I  only  ask.  would  you  like  some  of 
my  last  butter  ?  My  friend  replied,  "I  can  stand  the  butter,  but  I 
could  not  the  poetry."  I  thought  when  Mr.  Penney  asked  me  to 


108  Letter. 

read  my  own  poem,  how  proud  that  friend  would  be  if  she  could 
hear  me  on  this  occasion. 

Fifty  years!    Oh  little  church  upon  the  plain, 
Tell  us  your  story,  is  it  loss  or  gain? 
You  who  for  half  a  century  have  stood 
Contending  for  the  striving  after  Good, 
Instead  of  unbelievable  belief; 
Hold  you  the  battlefield  in  joy  or  grief  ? 
*  *  *  *• 

The  old  walls  seem  to  echo  all  around, 
"With  everlasting  gain  I  hold  the  ground; 
Here  have  true  men  and  patient  women  stood, 
And  lived,  and  died,  just  trying  to  be  good, 
Thus  have  they  strengthened  others  for  the  strife 
'Gainst  sin  and  self,  and  blessed  this  earthly  life, 
Thus  to  their  children's  children  given 
'None  other  than  a  ladder  up  to  heaven.'  " 

fiettetr  REV.  JNO.  R.  EFFINGER. 

We   had  hoped  to  have  with  us  one  who  has  always 
taken  a  deep  interest  in  this  Society,  Mr.  Effinger,  but  he 
sends  his  greeting,  which  I  will  read  to  you. 
MR.  EFFINGER' s  LETTER. 

MY  DEAR  MR.  PENNEY: — 

As  the  week  advances  and  the  cold,  damp  weather  shows  no 
disposition  to  depart  from  the  even  tenor  of  its  way,  I  think  I  must 
be  content  to  be  with  you  in  spirit  and  by  letter,  rather  than  in  the 
bodily  presence. 

Please  convey  to  the  First  Unitarian  Society  of  Geneva  my 
hearty  congratulations  on  having  attained  the  ripe  age  of  fifty 
years.  It  is  a  great  event  in  the  history  of  one  of  our  western 
Unitarian  churches  to  celebrate  its  semi-csntennial.  It  is  a  mat- 
ter not  only,  of  local,  but  general  interest  to  our  body.  If  lam 
not  mistaken  there  are  but  few  older  churches  west  of  the  Alle- 
ghanies,  namely  those  at  Louisville,  St.  Louis,  Chicago  and  Quincy. 

All  honor  to  the  pioneers  of  our  faith  in  this  western  land!  I 
would  offer  my  little  tribute  of  thanks  and  praise  to  the  men  and 
women,  who,  planting  their  homes  on  the  wide  and  then  lonesome 
prairies  of  Illinois,  set  up  there  the  beacon-light  of  a  religion  of 
reason  and  the  moral  sense.  There  are  a  few  of  us  whose  hearts 
have  not  glowed  with  new  zeal  on  reading  the  story  of  the  "Man 
in  Earnest,"  who,  with  equal  skill  and  grace  could  plough  a  field 


Letter.  109 

or  make  a  churn,  or  preach  a  sermon,  or  minister  to  the  passing 
soul.  How  dear  was  his  name  to  every  Unitarian  in  the  State,  and 
how  treasured  the  memories  and  associations  of  this  church  at  Ge- 
neva, which  owes  its  existence  to  his  consecrated  energy  and 
enthusiasm! 

Under  the  careful  husbandry  of  such  hands  as  Conant,  Ed- 
dowes  and  Herbert  your  Society  took  such  vigorous  root  that  we 
must  now  look  upon  it  as  one  of  the  established  things, — if  Unitar- 
ians can  ever  consent  to  consider  anything  in  the  shape  of  a  church 
as  "established."  As  you  meet  together  the  hearts  of  many  who 
are  absent  will  be  turning  toward  Geneva  with  congratulations  on 
your  past  and  good  hopes  for  your  future.  Regretting  that  I  can- 
not ba  with  you  and  with  hearty  good  wishes  for  a  successful 
meeting  and  continued  prosperity, 

T  am  yours  most  cordially, 

Chicago,  June  9,  1892.  JOHN  R.  EFFINGER. 


getter.  PROF.  SAMUEL,  CLARKE. 

1  will   also  call  upon  Mrs.   Agnes  Hoyt,  who  has  a 
letter  that  she  will  read  to  you. 

LETTER  READ  BY  MRS.    HOYT. 

After  a  few  words  to  myself  he  says: — 

The  little  picture  of   the  dear 

old  church  on  your  invitation  stirs  many  memories  of  my  early  life 
that  are  among  the  things  to  me  most  valued,  held  most  sacred. 

I  have  to  recall  the  Sundays  with  each  one  of  our  dear  good 
people  in  their  well-known  seats.  I  remember  clearly  the  delight- 
ful feeling  of  being  entirely  at  home  among  the  best  of  good  lov- 
ing friends;  the  blessed  sense  of  peace  and  helpfulness  that  came 
equally  from  our  good  friend  in  the  pulpit  and  from  those  with 
whom  we  sat.  Such  a  canter  of  genuine  goodness  to  stimulate  and 
help  everything  that  makes  for  true  living,  carried  on  bravely  and 
joyously  and  withal,  humbly,  I  have  never  found  elsewhere. 

With  this  I  always  associate  my  impressions  of  the  Prairie 
life  as  I  came  to  know  it  in  those  days.  The  picture  is  very  vivid 
to  me  of  June  afternoons  on  the  fields  that  reached  the  horizon 
and  knew  no  bounds.  There  never  was  a  bluer  sky,  light  clouds 
never  sailed  more  freely;  the  afternoon  breeze  was  delicious  in  its 
sweet  freshness:  the  notes  of  the  prairie  birds  are  clearer  than  all 
others;  the  beautiful  prairie  flowers  were  out  in  endless  profusion, 
fragrant  and  brilliant;  and  the  wonderful  insect  life  in  countless 
numbsrs  seemed  full  of  cheer  and  joy  as  they  went  swiftly  about 
their  beneficent  work.  What  a  glorious  world  that  was!  How  it 


110  Cui  Bono  f 

touched  and  stimulated  every  particle  and  fibre  of  worth  within  one. 

Never  has  there  come  to  me  such  a  sense  of  glad  freedom,  of 
unbounded  room  and  beautiful,  good  things  for  all,  as  there  on  the 
prairie.  Everything  was  so  pure  and  true  and  unlimited  that  it 
seemed  to  be  God's  storehouse,  and  it  was  the  greatest  privilege 
to  be  there. 

And  so  two  of  my  most  prized  memories  of  the  West,  most 
prized  because  they  have  been  most  helpful  to  me,  are  of  our 
church  with  you  dear  people,  and  of  the  wider  church  outside  all 
walls. 

All  greetings  to  you  and,  with  a  full  measure  of  its  old  time 
meaning — Good  bye.  Yours  always, 

Williamstown.  June  8,  1892.  SAMUEL  F.  CLARKE. 


©ui  fpotto  ?  REV.  T.  G.  MILSTED. 

We  have  with  us  to-day  another  of  the  Chicago  min- 
isters whose  name,  but  for  a  miscarried  letter,  would  have 
appeared  on  our  program;  but  I  know  we  will  all  be  glad 
to  hear  from  Mr.  Milsted. 

MR.  MILSTED'S  RESPONSE. 

Daar  friends,  ladies  and  gentlemen:  They  say  that  man  pro- 
poses but  that  God  disposes.  Some  of  us,  however,  have  disposing 
powers  a  little  nearer  to  us.  or  that  perhaps  act  upon  us  a  little 
oftener  and  a  little  more  forcibly  perhaps  than  that  greater  dis- 
posing power.  When  I  told  my  wife  recently  that  before  my  church 
closed  I  was  going  to  Davenport  to  see  my  mother,  she  said,  "Very 
well,  then  you  must  go  this  week."  That  settled  it  for  me,  and 
this  week  I  prepared  to  go.  We  had  heard  of  this  celebration  at 
Geneva,  but,  through  the  miscarriage  of  the  letter  of  which  Brother 
Penney  spoke,  we  did  not  know  what  the  nature  of  it  would  be: 
when  we  found  this  out,  my  wife  said.  "You  can't  go  to  Davenport 
this  week;  you  must  go  to  Geneva. "  So  here  I  am. 

Mr.  Penney  had  asked  me  to  speak  on  the  subject,  "Cui  Bono?" 
"What  is  the  good  of  the  church;  for  whose  benefit  is  the  church?" 
And  as  I  had  told  him  I  would  be  in  another  State  at  that  time,  I 
supposed  that,  of  coui'se,  he  would  have  assigned  that  subject  to 
someone  else,  so  I  came  expecting  to  have  only  the  pleasure  of 
listening.  So  you  see  there  may  have  been  some  special  Provi- 
dence in  this  arrangement  after  all,  for  if  I  had  planned  to  speak 
of  the  "Owi  Bono?"  of  the  Church,  you  might  not  have  escaped  so 
easily  as  you  now  will,  because  I  have  had  only  a  few  moments  to 
think  of  the  question,  "What  is  the  use  and  benefit  of  a  Church 
like  this." 


Cui  Bono  ?  Ill 

If  I  could  only  point  to  the  two  or  three  sainted  characters 
that  have  sanctified  this  Church,  and  have  given  the  blessing  and 
the  banediction  of  their  spirit  to  the  world,  I  know  that  all  of  the 
faithful  men  and  women  who  have  toiled  here  would  say  that  all 
the  toil  and  work  of  their  lives  was  not  in  vain,  in  having  given  to 
our  denomination  and  to  the  religious  world  the  lives  of  such  men 
as  Conant  and  Hertort  and  tha  other  workers  here.  I  hold  that 
such  characters  are  unique  in  modern  Christendom,  and  their  only 
parallel  is  in  the  early  days  of  the  martyrs  when  men's  souls  were 
stirred  to  their  depths.  They  could  not  have  found  room  for  such 
characters  in  other  churches,  because  their  souls  were  open  to  all 
God's  stock  of  truth,  and  they  did  not  have  to  apologize  for  it;  they 
did  not  have  to  blind  their  eyes;  there  were  no  secret  recesses  in 
God's  creation  into  which  they  did  not  dare  to  look,  but  they  gave 
their  great  characters  to  our  modern  life,  and  that  is  one  of  the 
b3nefits  that  this  church  has  basn,  not  only  to  this  placa  but  to  our 
country.  This  church  is  to  be  the  great  school  of  your  souls  and 
of  the  souls  of  your  children.  There  are  in  your  midst  schools  to 
train  the  minds  of  the  young;  you  should  also  have  a  place  to  train 
their  souls,  for  we  do  not  come  into  the  world  full-grown  men  and 
women  of  God.  We  are  born  with  our  Godlike  faculties  in  the 
germ,  just  as  we  are  born  with  our  mental  and  physical  natures  in 
the  germ,  and  just  as  it  takes  the  school  to  unfold  all  our  powers 
of  mind,  and  just  as  it  takas  all  the  great  benefits  we  have  of  a 
physical  kind  to  unfold  and  develop  our  physical  natures,  so  I  hold 
it  needs  the  church  to  unfold  a\id  develop  the  divine  nature;  and 
for  that  purpose  the  .church  exists  here  for  you  and  for  your 
children. 

As  I  was  coming  out  here  to-day  I  looked  out  of  the  car  win- 
dow and  I  saw  some  birds  sitting  on  the  telegraph  wires,  and  I  was 
reminded  of  the  baautiful  poem  by  Mrs  Whitney,  in  which  she 
tells  about  these  little  birds  'sitting  on  the  telegraph  wires,  and 
how  that  they  chitter  and  flitter  and  fold  their  wings,  and  think 
that  for  them  and  their  sires  were  stretched  always  on  purpose 
those  wonderful  wires.'  And  as  they  sit  there  and  think,  if  they 
think  at  all,  that  those  strings  were  stretched  for  themselves,  the 
news  of  the  world  runs  under  them;  how  values  rise  and  decline; 
how  great  souls  are  taken  away  from  our  midst;  how  armies  meet 
in  battle-shock,  and  while  that  is  going  through  the  wires,  they 
only  see  the  wires  stretching  away.  So  the  lines  of  eternity,  and 
immortality, and  theithought  of  God  and  the  diviner  life  run  throuhg 
our  lives.  Often  like  the  birds  we  only  see  the  visible  thing  and 
forget  that  through  the  lines  of  our  lives  are  flying  the  messages 
of  God  and  eternity  too  deep  and  vast  to  be  wholly  comprehended 
by  our  mortal  powers.  The  church  is  continually  in  our  midst  to 
call  these  messages  to  mind,  to  interpret  them  to  us  that  their 
grand  meaning  may  strengthen  and  uplift  our  souls. 


A  Living  Saint. 

The  Church  can  only  be  good  and  great  with  great  and  good 
and  loyal  men  and  women  within  it.  The  Church  is  only  made  of 
those  that  are  within  it,  and  unless  you  are  true,  the  Church  will 
not  have  the  influence  in  this  community  that  it  should  have. 
Your  Church  does  not  exist  for  freedom  only.  Rsad  when  you  get 
home  all  that  beautiful  poem  of  Bryant  on  Freedom,  in  which  he 
explodes  the  fallacy  held  by  so  many  people  that  freedom  is  simply 
to  do  nothing,  and  in  which  he  says: 

"O  Freedom!     Thou  art  not,  as  poets  dream, 
A  fair  young  maid,  with  light  and  delicate  limb, 
And  wavy  tresses  gushing  from  the  cap 
With  which  the  Roman  master  crowned  his  slave 
When  he  took  off  the  gyves.     A  bearded  man. 
Armed  to  the  teeth,  art  thou;  one  mailed  hand 
Grasps  the  broad  shield,  and  ons  the  sword." 

Then  he  goes  on  to  tell  how  he  is  scarred,  and  how  his 

"Massive  limbs 
Are  strong  with  struggling." 

And  how  he  has  even  been  imprisoned  in  "dungeon  deep,"  but 
that  he  broke  his  walls  and  chains  and  came  out  to  do  good;  and  so 
freedom  in  religion  is  not  some  light  and  delicate  thing,  it  is  some- 
thing strong.  It  rises  up  equal  to  all  responsibilities,  and  we  hope 
this  Church  through  the  next  fifty  years  will  ba  as  good  and  great 
and  glorious  as  it  has  been  in  the  fifty  years  that  we  celebrate 
to-day. 

3C  fjit»ttt0  S*atnt,  MRS.  J.  D.  HARVEY. 

Before  we  proceed  with  the  second  half  of  our  pre- 
pared program,  there  is  one  more  toast  that  is  not  down 
here.  It  does  not  need  to  be,  because  the  people  of  Ge- 
neva and  those  who  know  and  have  come  in  contact  with 
the  people  of  Geneva,  find  it  written  on  their  hearts.  I 
shall  call  upon  Mrs.  Harvey  to  respond  to  the  toast,  "A 
Living  Saint,  Timothy  Harold  Eddowes. " 
MRS.  HARVEY'S  RESPONSE. 

At  the  risk  of  appearing  bafore  you  again  with  a  Very  red  fao 
and  the  engine  having  the  best  of  it,  I  have  come  to  say  one  word 
outside  of  the  program.  You  have  heard  about  so  many  Saints 
that  we  have  had  with  us  in  the  past,  but  we  ai\3  so  fortunate  as  to 


Response.  113 

have  still  another  one  who  is  here,  and  who,  we  hope,  will  be  here 
for  many  years. 

We  have  a  great  many  ministers  here  to-day  who  are  doing  a 
great  work  in  the  world,  but  it  seems  to  me  to  be  a  small  thing  to 
preach,  to  what  it  is  to  do  everything  except  preach;  but  that 
is  what  our  Saint  does  who  has  been  here  t  wenty-five  years,  any- 
way. He  has  not  preached  here  regularly  for  many  years,  but  he 
buries  us  all,  marries  us  all,  doas  all  the  work  in  between  —  I  could 
not  tall  you  all  the  things  he  doas,  but  he  is  what  keeps  this 
Church  going.  He  manages  the  Sunday  School,  and  above  all,  he 
has  faith  that  we  will  always  have  some  money  to  keep  up  this 
Church  and  will  always  have  a  minister,  even  when  no  one  else  be- 
lieves it. 

Last  yaar,  the  trustees  were  very  much  discouraged  and  it 
was  even  feared  that  we  could  not  go  on,  but  we  handed  everything 
over  to  him,  and  how  successful  he  has  been  you  can  judge  from 
our  Church  and  our  fine  young  minister  who  is  here.  He  believes 
in  young  ministers;  imports  them  every  few  years;  teaches  them 
how  to  preach;  warns  them  off  the  breakers,  and  does  everything 
that  can  be  done.  And  that  is  our  "Living  Saint"  whom  I  wanted 
you  to  know  about.  [Calls  for  Eddowes.] 


REV.  T.  H.  EDDOWES. 
They  insist  upon  hearing  from  Mr.  Eddowes. 
MR.  EDDOWES'  RESPONSE.  • 

I  have  always  liked  Geneva  very  well,  but  I  did  not  know  I 
had  got  to  heaven.  It  is  very  true  that  I  have  known  this  Church 
twenty-seven  years,  and  it  was  the  first  Church  that  I  ever  had, 
but  I  felt  as  soon  as  I  cam3  to  Geneva  that  this  was  my  home. 
Thsre  was  something  about  my  earlier  horns  that  I  had  never  liked: 
it  was  at  that  place,  Galena,  that  I  spoka  to  you  about  this  morning 
where  my  father's  family  had  such  hard  times  starting  a  Unitarian 
Church.  The  rest  of  my  family  were  very  much  attached  to  Ga- 
lena, but  from  my  childhood  on,  I  was  always  glad  to  go  away  from 
it  and  vory  sorry  to  go  back  to  it  even  while  my  folks  were  living 
there;  so  when  I  came  to  Geneva  and  found  there  was  a  Unitarian 
Church  here,  and  I  could  have  charge  of  it,  I  was  at  home,  and  if 
heaven  and  home  are  the  sam3  things,  I  am  perfectly  willing  to 
take  this  for  heaven.  Mrs.  Harvey  has  told  you  of  what  I  do  for 
this  Church.  I  am  vain  enough,  or  weak  enough,  or  something  or 
other  enough,  to  say  that  it  is  just  the  one  thing  in  this  world  I 
had  rather  do  than  anything  else,  because  I  became  so  interested 
in  the  people  who  were  here  when  I  came;  and  there  is  something 
or  other  about  the  Eddowes  family  that  is  always  putting  them  in 


114-  The  Illinois  Conference. 

situations  where  there  is  a  forlorn  hope  to  carry.  Whatever  un- 
der the  sun  I  should  do  in  a  place  that  didn't  need  a  "factotum"  or 
with  a  church  that  could  run  itself,  I  don't  see.  I  should  have  to 
emigrate  or  else  should  have  to  say  that  I  was  not  in  heaven. 
[Cheers  for  Eddowes.] 

getter.  REV.  CHESTER  COVELL. 

When  Mr.  Duncan,  as  he  says,  "discovered'1  me,  he 
sent  me  down  to  Buda,  and  then  to  Geneseo  to  have  Mr. 
Miller  and  Mr.  Oovell  look  me  over,  and  I  have  here  a 
letter  from  Mr.  Covell  which  I  think  will  serve  as  a  very 
good  introduction  to  Mr.  Duncan,  who  will  respond  to 
'  'The  Illinois  Conference.  '  ' 

DEAR  FRIENDS:—    . 

It  would  be  a  great  pleasure  to  me  to  be  with  you  on  the  occa- 
sion of  the  anniversary  exercises  of  which  you  speak.  Honored 
names  will  be  then  called  up,  which  have  been  connected  with 
your  organization  —  names  I  much  revere.  Conant  and  Herbert 
can  never  be  forgotten.  A  line  from  the  latter  in  '81  speaking  of 
our  Illinois  Conference,  says,  "That  Fraternity  will  always  be  very 
dear  to  me,  however  far  from  it  I  may  physically  be."  And  how 
very  dear  he  was  to  the  Geneva  Church,  and  our  State  Conference. 

I  must  say  circumstances  will  not  permit  my  attendance:  but 
I  rejoice  in  the  good  time  that  awaits  those  who  attend. 

Fraternally  Yours, 

Buda,  June  3,  1892.  C.  COVELL. 

©he  miittotft  ©xmference.  REV.  L.  J.  DUNCAN. 


We  hope  to  leave  behind  us  an  enduring  work  whereby  those  who  come 
after  us  may  "Climb  by  our  labors  and  thank  God  for  our  lives.'1'' 

Mr.    Duncan    will    now    respond    to    "The    Illinois 
Conference.  '  ' 

MR.  DUNCAN'S  RESPONSE. 

Ladies  and  gentlemen:  It  were  far  better  if  Father  Covell 
himself  were  here  to  speak  to  this  toast,  for  he  is  one  of  the  fathers 
of  the  Illinois  Conference  and  for  many  years  its  secretary  and 
missionary  in  the  field.  I  would  it  were  that  he  could  bs  here  and 
say  to  you  the  words  that  I  must  speak. 

In  responding  to  this  toast,  I  am  first  of  all  glad  to  remember 


The  Illinois  Conference.  115 

that  it  was  in  the  Geneva  Church  that  the  first  steps  were  taken 
to  incorporate  the  Illinois  Conference  on  its  present  basis.  Prior 
to  October,  1885,  there  had  been  for  ten  years  a  talking  conference 
in  this  state  callod  the  "Illinois  Fraternity  of  Liberal  Churches;" 
but  in  Octobar,  1885,  they  thought  it  was  time  to  begin  to  do  some 
thing  more  than  just  talk  about  this  liberal  religion,  and  so  at  the 
meeting  of  that  Fraternity  held  here,  steps  were  taken  towards 
the  incorporation.  Officers  were  elected;  the  name  was  changed 
to  "The  Illinois  Conference  of  Unitarian  and  other  Independent 
Societies;"  the  motto,  "Freedom,  Fellowship,  and  Character"  was 
adopted;  Mr.  Effinger  was  elected  the  Secretary  of  the  Conference 
and  we  started  out  to  bj  a  working  organization.  Through  all  the 
sixteen  years  of  this  Conference  life,  for  I  count  the  Fraternity 
and  the  Conference  as  at  present  organized  one  living  body, 
through  all  the  life  of  this  Conference,  I  find  that  the  Geneva 
Church  has  been  most  loyal;  sharing  in  all  the  responsibilities 
which  that  Conference  has  had  to  face,  sharing  also  in  the  tri- 
umphs which  that  .Conference  has  achieved.  And  so  I  feel  per- 
fectly confident  that  the  constituency  which  I  represent  here  would 
feel  glad  to  have  me  say  to  you  that  you  have  the  hearty  congratu- 
lations, on  this  anniversary  occasion,  of  the  Illinois  Conference, 
and  to  express  the  earnest  hope  that  the  relations  which  have 
been  so  pleasant  and  so  profitable  between  us  in  the  past  may  be 
continued  in  the  future. 

The  Illinois  Conference  to-day  is  doing  all  the  work  that  comes 
to  its  hands;  all  that  it  can  find  to  do.  It  has  only  been  about  six- 
teen months  since  the  active  work  of  the  Conference  has  been 
carried  on.  Prior  to  that  time,  for  various  reasons,  we  were  un- 
able to  do  very  much  in  the  field  for  several  years,  but  in  the  last 
sixteen  months  we  have  been  prosecuting  a  pretty  vigorous  work. 
The  Sunday  Circle  at  Princeton  has  been  revived  and  set  to  work 
in  a  practical  way  which  bids  fair  to  give  us  before  long  another 
liberal  Church  in  Illinois.  A  Sunday  Circle  has  been  started  at 
Ottawa,  111.  I  noticed  to-day  in  the  history  that  was  read,  that  the 
first  communion  service  of  this  Church  was  attended  by  thirteen 
people;  the  first  service  that  was  held  in  Ottawa  was  attended  by 
thirteen  people.  Let  us  hope  that  Ottawa  may  have  as  rich  a  his- 
tory in  the  next  fifty  years  as  this  Church  has  had  in  the  past  fifty 
years.  A  little  Circle  has  baen  started  at  Wenona,  a  most  inter- 
esting Circle  in  that  it  is  representative  of  so  many  different  lines  of 
thought,  there  are  Universalists,Unitarians,Quakers  and- some  peo- 
ple who  call  themselves  "What  Nots"  for  want  of  a  better  name. 
There  has  been  a  new  movement  started  at  Sterling  and  Rock 
Falls,  where  I  shall  go  to-morrow,  that  gives  promise  of  abundant 
success.  Prior  to  last  December,  there  never  had  been  a  liberal 
sermon  preached  in  that  town;  and  I  found  people  there  who  did 
not  know,  as  close  as  they  are  to  Ganeva,  that  there  was  such  a 


116  The  Illinois  Conference. 

thing  as  a  Unitarian  Church.  There  are  other  places  I  might 
mention,  but  particularly  I  want  to  speak  of  the  new  work  which 
is  just  coming  to  us  at  Streator,  which  gives  good  promise  of  grow- 
ing to  a  strong  movement.  It  started  under  particularly  discour- 
aging circumstances.  Indeed,  the  beginning  of  the  Streator 
movement  was  no  start  at  all.  I  went  down  there  and  after  can- 
vassing for  several  days,  gave  it  up  completely  as  a  hopeless  place; 
but  not  many  months  after,  there  came  the  word,  "Where  is  that 
young  man  who  came  here  last  fall  ?"  They  had  lived,  just  the 
few  informal  words  that  had  been  spoken  there,  they  lived,  and 
somebody  had  been  interested  enough  to  find  out  where  they  could 
have  some  more;  and  so  the  work  has  baen  carried  on,  and  it  is 
growing. 

This  Straetor  movement  is  something  of  and  indication  of  the 
spirit  which  is  all  abroad  in  Illinois.  Go  where  you  will,  you  will 
always  find  some  one  who  is  ready  for  our  message.  Never  have 
I  gone  to  a  place  yet  and  made  inquiry  for  people  of  Liberal,  re- 
ligious opinions  and  convictions,  and  failed  to  find  some.  I  believe 
most  earnestly  that  if  we  would  realize  our  opportnnities  and  our 
duties  we  would  find  in  a  short  time  that  the  work  in  Illinois 
would  bs  growing  faster  than  one  missionary  could  possibly  take 
care  of.  I  tell  you,  friends,  we  have  for  these  people  what  is  to 
them  the  very  Bread  of  Life.  We  have  to  feed  to  spiritual  babss 
the  sincere  milk  of  the  Word,  and  speaking  of  milk  reminds  me 
of  a  story  with  which  I  will  close. 

A  few  years  ago,  a  young  couple,  city-bred  and  accustumed  to 
the  fare  that  we  who  live  in  cities  have  to  put  up  with,  concluded 
that  they  would  spend  a  summer  in  the  country;-so  they  went  into 
the  country  and  bought  their  milk,  and  other  supplies,  of  a  neigh- 
boring farmer  and  enjoyed  it.  They  believed  that  farmers  were 
perfectly  honest  and  perfectly  trustworthy,  and  that  they  could 
drink  that  milk  without  any  fear  or  apprehension  whatsoever;  but 
unfortunately  one  night  they  kept  some  of  it  over,  and  their  confi- 
dence received  a  rude  shock,  for  the  next  morning  there  was  a 
suspicious  look  about  that  milk  that  sent  Mrs.  Younghusbandover 
to  the  farmer's  to  inquire  about  matters.  She  said,  "I  thought 
that  when  I  came  out  here  into  the  country  I  certainly  could  find 
unadulterated  food,  but  I  find  that  it  is  not  so,  the  milk  that  you 
sant  us  is  adulterated."  They  inquired  what  was  the  matter. 
"Why,"  she  said,  "this  morning  when  I  looked  at  the  milk  I  got 
of  you  yesterday,  it  was  all  covered  with  a  thick  yellow  scum,  and 
then  my  husband  and  I  notic3d  furthermore  that  the  milk  was  of  a 
much  yellower  color  than  that  which  wo  hava  b?en  accustomed  to 
get."  "Well."  said  the  farmer,  "you  must  understand  that  this 
scum  you  are  talking  about  is  the  cream,  and  that  the  rich  yollow 
color  you  are  speaking  of  is  a  sign  that  the  milk  is  perfectly  pure 
and  unadulterated."  "Don't  tell  me.  don't  tell  m3:  we  always  paid 


Letter.  117 

the  highest  market  price  for  milk,  and  always  got  our  milk  of  a 
reputable  dairyman,  and  I  guess  I  know  pure  milk  when  I  see  it. 
Pure  milk  is  characterized  by  a  beautiful  pale  blue  tint."  And 
vain  were  the  efforts  of  the  farmer  to  convince  her  that  that  pale 
blue  tint  was  a  sign  of  adulteration.  Now,  what  is  the  point  ? 
Simply  this:  the  difficulties  we  have  to  contend  with  arise  from  the 
fact  that  .the  people  to  whom  we  go  are  so  accustomed  to  having 
their  religion  adulterated;  it  is  so  watered  with  orthodox  theology 
that  they  expect  it  to  have  a  pale  blue  tint,  and  cannot  recognize 
or  appreciate  pure  and  unadulterated  natural  religion  when  they 
get  it.  It  is  our  mission,  friends,  to  so  educate  those  people,  and 
so  to  cultivate  their  taste  for  the  "sincere  milk  of  the  word''  that 
when  we  come  to  them  with  natural  religion,  God's  blessed  gift  to 
man,  and  say  to  them,  "This  is  yours;  yours  to  develop,"  that  they 
will  receive  it  in  perfect  confidence,  and  without  that  fear  and 
trembling  and  distrust  with  which  they  meet  us. 

Oh,  friends,  let  us  fill  ourselves  full  of  the  mission  that  is  be- 
fore us.  Let  us  be  imbued  with  the  spirit  of  those  men  and  women 
who  were  the  founders  of  this  Church  and  go  forward  unfaltering- 
ly with  our  work.  If  we  will  only  put  the  spirit  of  pure  and  un- 
defiled  religion  into  our  work  we  can  reap  as  rich  a  harvest  as  did 
they,  and  leave  behind  us  as  goodly  a  heritage. 


getter*  REV.  JAS.  H.  WEST. 

Before  I  introduce  Mr.  Byrnes  to  respond  to  the  toast 
"Freedom  of  Thought  and  Speech,"  it  seems  to  me  it 
would  be  very  proper  to  read  to  you  the  greeting  from  Mr. 
West  who  found  here,  what  he  feared  he  should  find  no- 
where, absolute  freedom  of  speech. 

MR.   WEST'S  LETTER- 

MY  DEAR  MRS.  HOYT,  AND  FRIENDS  OF  THE  GENEVA  CHURCH: — 
That  it  does  not  now  seem  possible  for  us  to  be  with  you  on  the 
occasion  of  the  Fiftieth  Anniversary,  is,  believe  me,  a  matter  of 
large  regret  to  us,  for  we  have  earnestly  desired  to  be  present.  We 
thank  you  heartily  for  your  invitation. 

As  you  well  know,  our  three  and  a  half  years'  work  with  you 
was  a  bright  chapter  in  our  lives.  We  always  think  of  you  with 
love.  And  that  the  little  society  still  continues,  and  continues 
fairly  prosperous  considering  the  many  limitations  amid  which  it 
laboi-s,  is  matter  for  congratulation  for  all.  That  it  may  continue 
always  with  the  Progressive  Spirit  we  may  well  hope  and  labor  to- 
wai'ds.  In  repetition  the  soul  can  never  rest  satisfied.  It  has  been 


118  Letter. 

perhaps  the  greatest  drawback  of  the  Christian  Church  that  it  has 
deemed  itself  a  fixed  body;  the  possessor  of  a  completed  system; 
anchored  to  an  infallible  word,  to  which  nothing  might  be,  nor 
needed  to  be,  ever  added.  For  when  new  discovery,  scientific  re- 
search, deeper  thought  of  students,  have  found  out  certain  things 
of  Nature  and  the  Soul  which  cast  cloud  on  things  former,  and 
proved  them  fallacious,  the  Church  has — and  naturally,  consistently 
from  its  standpoint — deemed  it  its  duty  still  to  uphold  the  error. 
It  thus  has  weaned  from  itself  the  allegiance  of  many  (the  deepest 
thinkers  perhaps;  the  truth-lovers;  the  men  of  the  largest  soul  and 
largest  faith), — whose  company,  could  the  Church  but  have  looked 
upon  itself  as  the  repository  of  a  "progressive"  rather  than  of  a 
"fixed"Word,  and  thus  been  able  to  retain  them  in  its  midst,  would 
have  made  it  the  great  power  for  good  in  modern  restless  time 
which  in  earlier  years  it  was  in  matters  of  faith  and  the  amalga- 
mating of  intermixing  nations. 

In  the  present  era,  however,  it  would  really  seem  that  the 
Church  is  waking  up  to  a  nobler  consciousness  of  itself;  to  a  nearer 
right  appreciation  of  its  opportunities,  of  its  privileges,  of  its  du- 
ties. The  great  word  in  Nature,  sounding  throughout  the  universe 
from  farthest  new-circling  sun  condensing  out  of  fire-mist  down  to 
the  latest  expanding  chestnut  or  maple  tree  by  our  door,  is  Progress. 
And  this  great  word  the  Church  is  now  beginning  to  make  its  own. 

In  repetition  the  soul  can  never  rest  satisfied.  Without  growth 
it  must  forever  feel  that  something  is  lacking.  And  something  is 
lacking. 

"In  the  same  brook  none  ever  bathed  him  twice 

To  the  same  life  none  ever  twice  awoke. 

We  call  the  brook  the  same, — the  same  we  think 

Our  life,  though  still  more  rapid  is  its  flow, — 

Nor  mark  the  much  irrevocably  lapsed 

And  mingled  with  the  sea." 

There  is  indeed,  for  all  men  and  things,  a  C3rtain  unconscious 
change,  as  thus'  hinted  in  the  lines  of  the  poet  Young.  But  how 
much  better  the  progressive  spirit; — the  Progressive  Spirit,  con- 
sciously a  co-worker  with  God!  The  Spartans  in  battle  threw  their 
shields  before  them,  and  then  fought  their  way  up  to  them.  Well 
for  us  that,  seeing  how  inadequate  much  of  the  old  is, — how 
meagre,  often  repellant,  largely  unsatisfying. — we  to-day  find  a 
"Liberal"  fold  open  to  us,  which  our  fathers  knew  not,  wherein  we 
may  dare  to  propagate  our  highest  dream,  speak  our  deepest  faith, 
and,  if  indeed  we  cannot  yet  wholly  justify  all  we  utter,  or  give 
scientific  chapter  and  verse  for  it,  may  still  launch  our  faith  for- 
ward for  the  world  to  ponder,  and  then  courageously,  month  by 
month,  year  by  year,— gathering  argument,  fact,  inferenca,— fight 


Letter.  119 

our  way  up  to  it,  and  prove  it  even  batter  than  we  claimed!    Even 
more: — 

"Swift  of  fo3t  wa^  Hiawatha! 
He  could  shoot  an  arrow  from  him, 
And  run  forward  with  such  fleetness 
That  the  arrow  fell  behind  him." 

It  is  interesting  to  see,  week  by  week,  positions  held  thirty, 
twenty,  ten  years  ago,  by  liberal  religious  advocates,  and  at  that 
time  looked  at  with  scoffing  or  with  horror  by  the  "faithful,"  to- 
day being  accepted  and  preached  boldly  by  them;  while  the  "lib- 
erals" are  again  thirty,  twenty,  ten  years  in  advance,  propagating 
truth  which  onca  more  is  matter  for  scoffing  or  for  horror  to  those 
who  by  and  by  shall  accept  and  teach  it  likewise.  "All  in  good 
time,"  then. 

Nor  may  we  ever  stop!  There  is  Progress  yet  to  be.  Faith 
goes  on.  There  can  be  for  us  "no  resignation  of  office  or  winding 
up  of  affairs,  but  always  a  proceeding  to  business:  not  taking  off 
our  clothes  till  we  go  to  bed."  Even  one  thing  of  Beauty  found,  or 
two  things,  must  not  detain  us.  The  Yankee  in  Italy  glanced  at 
the  Apollo  Belvedere,  and  told  his  attendant  to  "check"  it  in  the' 
list  of  curious  objects  seen,  as  he  must  pass  on!  He  could  not  stay 
there.  The  world  had  more  in  it,  even  of  admirable  statuary,  than 
one  Apollo  Belvedere.  Translate,  friends,  this  incident  for  your- 
selves into  matters  of  the  soul. 

Never  was  the  outlook  for  man's  spiritual  life  so  bright,  so 
cheerful,  so  luring,  as  to-day, with  the  Church  beginning  to  unwind 
its  age-fastened  eye-bandages. 

"Out  of  the  dark  the  circling  sphere 

Is  rounding  onward  to  the  light: 
We  see  not  yet  the  full  day  here, 

But  we  do  see  the  paling  niyht." 

That  the  little  Unitarian  Church  in  Geneva  has  not  failed  to 
have  its  part  in  the  new,  modern  developing  fiat,  "Let  there  be 
light,"  should  make  the  hearts  of  all  of  you  very  glad  and  grateful 
during  this  Semi-Centennial  celebration.  Believe  us  present  with 
you  in  spirit,  with  our  best  hopes  and  love,  and  with  our  expecta- 
tions that,  in  your  midst,  the  Progressive  Spirit  of  which  I  have 
briefly  written  will  never  die  out. 

Affectionately  yours, 

JAMES  H.  WEST. 

Leicester,  June  6,  1892.  CORA  LIVERMORE  WEST. 


120  Freedom  of  Thought  and  Speech. 

$vest>aitn  of  ®lt«»w0ht  an&  gipeech.     REV.  THOS.  P.  BYRNES. 


The  worst  sceptic  in  the  world  is  the  man  who  does  not  trust  the  integ- 
rity of  his  own  mind  to  sift  truth  from  error. 

We  will  now  hear  from  Mr.    Byrnes,  of  Humboldt, 
Iowa,  Pastor  of  this  Society  from  1887  to  1890. 
MR.  BYRNES'  RESPONSE. 

Freedom  of  thought  and  freedom  of  speech  is  the  soul  of  Prot- 
estantism, while  the  absolute  dominion  of  the  Church  over  the 
human  mind  is  the  soul  of  Catholicism.  Protestantism  during  its 
four  hundred  years  ot  history  has  not  always  been  true  to  its  first 
principles  and  its  real  ideal,  for  it  has  often  set  up  sources  of  au- 
thority as  absolute  in  their  dominion  over  the  human  mind  as  that 
of  the  Pope  or  the  Church  of  Rome.  The  creeds  and  bibles,  the 
Luthers  and  Oalvins  of  Protestantism  have  ruled  the  minds  of 
Protestant  men  and  women  with  the  same  iron  hands  the  Pope  of 
Rome  has  wielded,  and  yet  freedom  of  thought  and  speech  was 
wrapped  up  in  the  revolt  o*  Luther  as  certainly  as  the  sturdy  oak  is 
in  the  tiny  acorn.  It  took  three  hundred  years  or  more  to  develop 
that  sturdy  oak  that  we  see  here  to-day.  It  took  three  hundred 
years  to  give  us  freedom  of  thought  and  of  speech,  as  it  has  been 
illustrated  to  us  to-day.  But  it  came;  it  came  with  the  Declara- 
tion of  American  Independence.  It  came  with  Theodore  Parker 
and  his  volcanic  address  on  ''The  permanent  and  the  transient  in 
religion."  It  came  with  the  prophetic  voice  of  Emerson;  and  that 
great  prophet's  call,  the  Divinity  School  Address,  that  Holmes  call- 
ed "Our  Spiritual  Declaration  of  Independence,"  that  established 
religion  on  its  true  and  final  foundation,  the  living  human  soul  liv- 
ing in  constant  communion  with  its  God.  Freedom  of  thought  and 
speech  has  came  to  stay,  as  the  result  of  the  pleading  of  Martineau, 
and  that  book  of  his,  "The  Seat  of  Authority  in  Religion,"  that 
lays  the  philosophical  foundation  for  the  religion  that  Emerson 
had»announc3d  with  the  voice  of  the  prophet.  Now,  I  don't  mean 
that  all  Protestant  men  and  women  are  free  to  think  and  speak  on 
religion  to-day,  but  I  mean  that  Protestantism  has  established  the 
right  to  think  and  speak,  and  vindicated  its  validity  in  the  relig- 
ious life;  and  so  far  as  the  spirit  of  the  times  is  discernible,  free- 
dom of  thought  in  religion  is  in  the  air  to-day.  The  real  conflict 
and  antagonism  that  is  shaking  the  foundations  of  all  the  great 
sects  to-day  is  this  conflict  and  antagonism  between  freedom  and 
authority  in  religion.  It  is  the  same  old  conflict  between  the  Cath- 
olic and  the  Protestant  principle  in  religion.  The  Reformers 
brought  with  them  such  a  load  of  Catholic  authority  from  Rome 
that  these  two  principles  are  really  fighting  for  life  to-day  in  al- 
most every  Protestant  sect.  This  conflict  in  the  Presbyterian 


Freedom  of  Thought  and  Speech. 

church  is  a  conflict  between  these  two  principles.  Briggs  is  stand- 
ing for  nothing  more  or  less  than  the  Protestant  principle  of  free- 
dom of  thought  in  religion;  while  Patton  and  his  cohorts  are  un- 
consciously working  for  the  Roman  doctrine  of  authority  in  relig- 
ion. Now,  if  freedom  of  thought  is  the  soul  of  Protestantism;  and 
the  absolute  surrender  of  the  human  mind  to  the  dominion  of  the 
Church  is  the  soul  of  Catholicism,  then  either  one  or  the  other  of 
these  two  principles  is  to  triumph  in  the  future.  There  is  no  mid- 
dle ground  between  them;  there  is  no  compromise.  It  is  either 
absolute  free  thought  or  else  the  absolute  surrender  of  the  mind  to 
an  authority  higher  than  itself.  Now,  it  matters  not  what  that 
authority  is.  Authority  is  the  same  the  world  over.  Protestant 
authority  is  no  better  than  Catholic  authority.  They  both  devel- 
op the  same  cringing  character  and  vassal  spirit.  Authority  in  re 
ligion  is  for  the  one  purpose  of  bringing  into  subjection  the  human 
mind. 

John  Henry  Newman,  perhaps  the  greatest  authority  of  this 
centui-y,  one  that  has  stood  the  most  vigorously  for  authority  in 
religion,  says  that  men  outside  of  the  Catholic  Church  have  tried 
to  devise  schemes  to  bring  wilful  human  nature  under  subjection. 
"But  where,"  he  says,  "Is  the  representative  of  things  invisible 
that  has  the  fores  and  the  toughness  necessary  to  be  a  breakwater 
against  the  wild  intellect  of  man."  He  finds  no  authority  equal  to 
Catholic  infallibility  outside  of  the  Catholic  church, and  he  defends 
that  infallibility  on.  the  ground  that  it  does  bring  into  subjection 
human  nature,  that  it  does  furnish  a  breakwater  against  the  wild 
intellect  of  man. 

I  can  not,  on  this  occasion,  go  into  any  extended  inquiry  of  the 
foundations  on  which  freedom  of  thought  and  speech  rest.  It  rests 
on  that  foundation  so  well  laid  by  Emerson  in  that  great  declara- 
tion of  his.  "That  nothing  is  at  last  sacred  but  the  integrity  of  the 
human  mind.''  It  rests  upon  that  Scripture  teaching  of  the  true 
light  that  "lighteth  every  man,"  and  it  ought  to  have  said  evei'y 
woman,  "thatcometh  into  the  world."  Freedom  of  thought  is 
simply  the  right  to  listen  to  the  witnesses  that  God  has  implanted 
in  every  sane  mind.  Freedom  of  thought  is  the  right  to  follow 
the  light  that  lighteth  every  man  and  every  woman  that  cometh 
into  the  world;  and  resting  on  this  foundation  freedom  of  thought 
and  of  speech  stands  secure  with  such  men  and  women  as  are  here 
represented  to  carry  out  and  illustrate  it  to  the  world.  I  would 
not  to-day  stand  for  freedom  of  thought  and  of  speech  only  as  a 
privilege,  as  a  luxury,  that  we  liberals  ought  to  congratulate  our- 
selves that  we  enjoy.  I  would  insist  upon  it  as  a  duty,  freedom  of 
thought  is  the  first  essential  to  a  manly  anda.womanly  character. 
Freedom  of  thought  and  slavery  of  thought  will  never  produce 
the  same  kind  of  character  until  all  things  are  possible  to  man  as 
well  as  God.  Freedom  of  thought  and  free  religion  produce  self- 


Woman's  delation  to  Religious   Freedom. 

propelling  men  and  women.  Slavery  of  thought  and  subjection  to 
authority  produce  cringing,  leaning,  self-distrustful  men  and 
women.  When  you  settle  which  of  these  two  ideals  is  the  highest 
you  have  settled  the  kind  of  religion  to  teach  in  this  world. 

Now,  freedom  of  speech  rests  upon  the  same  foundations  that 
freedom  of  thought  does.  If  the  mind  has  the  right  to  think, 
then  the  lips  and  the  tongues  should  have  the  right  to  utter  thought 
to  the  world.  Freedom  of  speech  rests  upon  the  conviction  that 
the  world  has  a  right  to  its  intellectual  and  spiritual  wealth.  We 
may  say  that  men  and  women  are  free  to  think  if  they  want  to; 
that  there  is  no  policeman  to  guard  the  mind,  but  I  tell  you,  there 
are  policemen;  there  are  dogmas  and  superstitions  that  do  this 
work  more  effectually  than  the  blue-coated  policemen  that  stand 
on  our  corners.  There  is  no  city  in  the  world  so  well  guarded  as 
this  city  of  the  mind  is  by  the  grim  dogmas  of  superstition.  As 
soon  as  the  tendency  to  free  thought  arises  in  the  mind,  these 
specters  of  absolute  authority  of  the  Church,  of  endless  hell  rise 
up  to  suppress  the  first  thought  that  rises  in  the  minds  of  many 
men  and  women  to-day,  and  until  this  state  of  things  is  changed, 
until  Protestantism  and  Catholicism  shall  have  been  brought  to 
freedom  of  thought  and  of  speech,  this  Church  and  the  Churches 
that  stand  for  those  principles  will  have  a  great  future  in  this 
world. 


to 

MRS.  CELIA  PARKER  WOOLLEY. 

Newidsas  and  motive?  were  at  work  within  hsr,  the  results  of  which 
were  likely  to  be  all  the  more  genuine  that  they  were  only  half  rec- 
ognized by  herself. 

I  think,  as  in  the  first  case,  I  need  not  enter  into  any 
discussion  or  give   any  reason  why  Mrs.  Woolley  should 
respond  to  "Woman's  Relation  to   Religious  Freedom." 
MRS.  WOOLLEY'S  RESPONSE. 

I  have  bsen  wondering,  Mr.  Chairman,  whether  you  stopped 
to  consider  the  amount  of  moral  dynamite  in  the  selection  of  this 
subject,  the  combination  of  two  such  words  as  ''woman''  and  "free- 
dom." It  is  a  rather  serious  subject  to  me  and  I  fear  I  shall  not 
bs  able  to  treat  it  with  that  lightness  and  ease  that  belong  to  after- 
dinner  efforts  of  this  kind.  It  has  prompted  me  to  take  a  text, 
not  from  the  Bible,  but  from  one  of  our  modern  prophets,  Olive 
Schreiner.  It  is  from  one  of  the  shorter  allegories  in  her  latest 
volume  of  "Dreams,"  and  is  entitled,  if  I  remember  aright,  "The 
Angel  of  Life,"  and  runs  as  follows:  The  Angel  of  Life  approached 


Woman's  Relation  to  Religious  Freedom.         123 

a  woman  sleeping,  bearing  a  gift  in  each  hand,  and  saying  to  the 
woman  "Choose."  The  woman  waited  long  and  finally  chose — 
Freedom.  The  Angel  smiled  and  said  ''That  is  well.  Hadst  thou 
chosen  the  other  I  would  have  given  thee  thy  choice,  but  I  should 
have  gone  away,  not  to  return.  Now  I  shall  return,  and  when 
thou  see'st  me  again,  I  shall  bear  both  gifts  in  one  hand. 

There  is  a  profound  truth  in  this  little  fable  whether  you  re- 
gard the  sleeping  woman  as  typical  of  the  entire  race  of  men  and 
women  together,  typical  of  both  as  truth-seekers,  or  whether  you 
take  the  figure  as  standing  for  woman  alone,  in  her  search  for  a 
higher  and  more  complete  womanhood.  It  leads  us  also  to  think 
of  the  comparative  merits  of  love  and  freedom  as  factors  of 
growth.  I  don't  know  that  I  would  go  so  far  as  to  say  that  a 
broader  and  truer  synthesis  is  reached  in  the  word  Freedom  than 
the  word  Love,  but  I  certainly  feel  that  the  last  word  is  used  in 
often  a  very  injurious  and  misleading  way.  I  hear  much  preach- 
ing of  love  in  the  pulpits  that  offends  both  my  taste  and  judgment, 
still,  undoubtedly  love  is  the  grander,  more  inclusive  word  than 
any  other  in  our  human  speech,  when  rightly  used.  What  the 
allegory  means  to  teach  is,  I  think,  that  if  Love  is  the  word  de- 
fining the  spirit  that  governs  all  things,  Freedom  is  the  word- 
which  defines  that  method  of  growth  by  which  we  reach  the  truest 
conception  of  love  and  become  its  helpful  ministers. 

Historically,  the  allegory  does  not  speak  the  truth.  Histori- 
cally, as  a  matter  of  fact  in  her  own  personal  experience  and  that 
of  her  race,  woman  has  never  chosen  freedom  before  love.  On 
the  contrary,  all  her  choices  have  been  those  of  love,  those  choices 
represented  in  the  various  relations  in  life  which  she  has  been 
called  on  to  sustain,  of  society,  the  family,  the  church.  So  that 
when  we  try  to  talk  about  woman's  relation  to  freedom,  or  to  re- 
ligious freedom,  we  seem  to  have  little  to  say.  We  should  find  a 
great  deal  to  say  if  we  were  to  speak  of  woman's  relation  to  relig- 
ion. Then  we  could  speak  of  her  zeal,  her  devotion,  her  piety, 
the  large  numbers  she  has  always  brought  to  the  support  of  the 
church  compared  with  man.  But  when  we  remember  how  often 
that  devotion  has  been  purchased  at  the  cost  of  real  intelligence 
on  her  part,  how  her  zeal  has  generally  stood  for  bigotry  and 
ignorance,  then  we  see  the  difficulty  of  saying  much  in  her  favor 
on  this  special  subject.  But  the  past  is  one  thing,  the  future  an- 
othe.r,  and  my  subject  is  justified  by  the  hope  and  the  promise  held 
out  to  woman  and  to  the  world  through  her,  in  this  era  of  awaken- 
ing intelligence  and  responsibility  in  which  we  live.  To-day,  we 
stand  at  that  point  in  the  development  of  religious  thought,  or  ra- 
ther in  the  development  of  all  thought,  when  freedom  is  seen  to  be 
a  necessary  condition  of  intellectual  life.  Socially,  religiously,  do- 
mestically, woman  never  enjoyed  that  degree  of  liberty  that  is 
given  her  to-dav.  freedom  to  use  her  own  mind  and  heart  in 


1% '4        The  Literary    Value  of  the  Liberal  Faith. 

solving  the  problems  of  life,  that  comes  to  her  not  as  a  woman  but 
as  a  human  being.  To  be  of  great  worth  to  the  world  and  to  man 
she  must  cultivate  all  her  powers  unhindered,  must  make  the  most 
and  best  of  herself.  She  must  choose  freedom  first,  before  love, 
or  love  will  bs  unworthily  chosen.  As  I  think  of  this,  and  remem- 
ber how  complex  are  all  the  relations  of  life,  see  how  much  of  pain, 
misunderstanding  and  seeming  wrong  such  choice  on  woman's  part 
means,  I  see  how  the  strain  and  pain  of  new  growth  must  be  felt 
by  man  as  well  as  by  her,  how  she  has  in  some  respects  the  easier 
task,  since  she  has  but  to  choose  for  herself;  while  man  who  has  so 
long  held  the  reins  of  privilege,  influence  and  authority  must  make 
her  choice  his,  choosing  freedom  for  her  with  freedom  for  himself. 
Men  have  much  to  learn  and  suffer  here. 

In  their  religious  life  women  have  had  a  voice  and  influence 
only  on  the  lower  plain  of  the  church's  practical  work.  Woman 
has  contributed  too  little  to  the  thought  the  higher  spirituality  of 
the  church.  Men  will  be  her  natural  leaders  here  for  a  long  time 
to  come.  Not  until  she  has  learned  to  think  independently  as  well 
as  reverently  will  her  relation  to  the  coming  creed  founded  on  per- 
fect mental  liberty,  be  established. 


Uitetrarjj  llalue  af  the  gtbrml  |?aiih. 

MR.  FORREST  CRISSEY. 

In  the  absence  of  Mr.  LeBaron,  who  was  to  have 
responded  to  "The  Fox  River  Valley"  I  shall  call  upon 
my  friend  Mr.  Crissey  to  speak  to  us  upon  the  subject 
which  is  suggested  to  me  by  a  story  which  I  heard  Mrs. 
Sheppard  tell  the  other  evening,  and  with  her  kind  per- 
mission, I  will  mangle  it.  It  seems  a  lady  had  been  at- 
tending Mr.  Gannett' s  church,  and  was  calling  upon  her 
former  pastor,  a  Presbyterian.  He  asked  her  where  she 
attended  church  and  she  to]d  him.  He  asked  about  the 
the  church,  if  it  was  a  strong  one;  she  said  'no,  that  it 
was  not,'  and  ventured  the  assertion  that  'outside  of  New 
England  there  were  very  few  popular  Unitarian  churches. ' 
He  looked  over  his  glasses  in  a  peculiar  way  and  said, 
"Yes,  I  believe  they  are  not  very  popular,  but  Unitarian- 
ism  is  in  all  of  our  literature  and  it  is  in  the  air."  1  call 
upon  Mr.  Crissey  to  respond  to  the  toast,  "The  Literary 


The  Centennial  Celebration. 

Value  of  the  Liberal  Faith." 

MR.  CRISSEY'S  RESPONSE. 

It  seems  to  me  that  nothing  short  of  malice  aforethought 
could  have  devised  the  toast  "The  Literary  Value  of  the  Liberal 
Faith." 

If  the  master  of  ceremonies  had  proposed  some  subject  at  least 
partially  open  to  discussion: — say  for  instance,  "Is  this  Collation 
Satisfying  to  Appetite;"  "Is  there  a  Unitarian  Church  in  Geneva" 
or  "Has  it  Rained" — then  there  might  have  been  some  chance  for 
response.  But  when  there  is  not  a  book  that  can  hope  to  outlive 
its  decade  in  all  the  real  literature  of  to-day  that  does  not  owe  its 
creation  to  the  liberal  spirit  which  we  celebrate,  how  can  you  con- 
sider the  Literary  Value  of  the  Liberal  Faith  open  to  discussion? 
From  Hugo  and  Emerson  down  to  the  last  paper  covered  novel  in 
the  news  agents's  pile  you  can  scarcely  name  one  volume  that  con- 
tains a  touch  of  genius  that  has  not  caught  its  vital  spark  from  the 
Faith  That  Makes  Faithful.  More  than  that  you  cannot  point  to  a 
line  in  any  of  the  reputed  literature  of  orthodoxy  that  stands  up 
above  the  dead  level  of  its  surrounding  platitude  that  does  not 
baar  upon  its  face  the  proof  that  its  author  had  lapsed  into  a  mo- 
ment of  natural  thinking,  of  free  thought. 

The  legitimate  issue  of  a  mind  impregnated  with  the  genuine 
orthodox  spirit  is  a  literary  crab,  bound  to  progress  backward  into 
the  gathering  dust  of  Sunday  School  library  shelves,  without  hope 
of  resurrection  beyond  being  sent  with  donations  of  cast-off  cloth- 
ing to  struggling  missionaries  upon  the  frontier.  In  no  realm  of 
activity  does  the  human  mind  approach  so  near  to  creation  as  in 
literature.  What  kind  of  a  creation  can  you  expect  from  a  mind 
bound  with  the  chains  of  the  old  creeds,  dragging  the  heavy  ball 
of  a  belief  in  eternal  torment  and  the  orthodox  conception  of  God? 

Imagine  a  mind  that  believes  that  thousands  of  its  fellow  be- 
ings are  going  down  to  everlasting  damnation,  indulging  the  nice 
discrimination  in  the  quirks  and  foibles  of  human  nature,  the  de- 
lightfully trifling  leisure  and  exquisite  artistic  finish  which  we 
find  in  W.  D.  Howells.  Only  a  mind  that  believes  in  the  ultimate 
happiness  of  all  and  in  the  final  triumph  of  good  as  the  sure  destiny 
of  the  universe  can  have  that  liberty  of  thought,  that  largeness  of 
Faith  and  that  repose  of  mind  which  is  vital  to  the  creation  of 
true  literature. 


®imtettttt(U  ©clcbration,    REV.  J  AS. VILA  BLAKE. 

With  prescient  sight,  more  daring  than  a  seer's 
My  soaring  spirit  leaped  ten  hundred  years. 


Centennial  Celebration. 

•You  may  not  have  noticed,  but  it  is  nevertheless  true, 
that  this  program  falls  naturally  into  three  divisions.  The 
first  is  reminiscent;  the  second  is  general;  the  third  is  pro- 
phetic, and  now  we  will  hear  from  Mr.  Blake  about  '  'The 
Centennial  Celebration. ' ' 

MB.  BLAKE'S  RESPONSE. 

BRETHREN  AND  SISTEREN:  You  never  will  know  what  a  fine 
speech  I  had  prepared.  All  day,  since  I  learned  what  I  was  to 
apeak  about,  I  have  been  busy  thinking  of  fine  things  to  say.  I 
have  been  observing  this  beautiful  scanery;  looking  at  the  birds, 
the  trees,  the  grassy  lawn,  the  sunlight,  striving  to  win  from  each 
a  bit  of  expression  for  this  hour.  And  I  got  it.  But  I  have  received 
a  violent  shock.  A  few  moments  ago  a  friend  said  to  me,  "Are 
you  going  to  talk  much?  The  Lord  help  us,  if  you  are."  And  I 
haven't  recovered  from  that  shock  sufficiently  to  speak  to  you.  Be- 
sides, I  noticed  the  poetical  couplet  with  which  I  am  introduced 
on  the  program: 

"With  prescient  sight,  more  daring  than  a  seer's 
My  soaring  spirit  leaped  ten  hundred  years." 

Since  I  looked  at  that  I  have  been  trying  hard  to  remember 
whence  it  came.  I  have  a  dim  idea  that  I  have  met  those  lines  be- 
fore somewhere.  Between  the  shock  I  have  spoken  of  and  the  oc- 
cupation of  my  mind  observing  those  lines,  what  I  had  to  say 
has  gone  clean  out  of  my  head.  "Leaped  ten  hundred  years!''  Did 
you  ever  know  anything  so  foolish  as  the  poets  are, — if  you  can  call 
that  line  a  poet's  ?  I  think  I  could  write  two  lines  just  as  good  as 
those  are,  myself.  "Leaped  ten  hundred  years."  Why,  I  find  an 
insurmountable  difficulty  in  being  required  to  leap  fifty  years,  to 
tell  what  is  in  reserve  for  your  Centennial;  and  after  the  shock  I 
have  spoken  of,  I  shall  not  try.  I  will  not  fail  by  trying.  There  is 
time  enough,  though  the  hour  is  late;  but  I  shall  not  give  you  any- 
thing after  that  shock.  I  shall  simply  tell  you  a  story,  which  you 
can  apply  for  yourselves,  about  an  Eastern  Darvis  who  came  to  a 
town  in  his  travels,  ascended  the  pulpit,  and  the  people  being  gath- 
ered all  around,  as  you  are,  said,  "Oh  ye  p3Ople,  do  you  know  what 
I  am  going  to  talk  to  you  about?"  And  they  said  "No,  we  do  not 
know."  "Oh!"  said  the  Darvis,  "I  will  not  talk  to  such  a  pack 
of  fools."  And  he  got  down  from  the  pulpit  and  went  away.  The 
next  day  he  came  and  cried  out.  "Oh  y.3  people,  do  ye  know  what 
I  am  going  to  talk  to  you  about?"  And  they  all  cried  out,  remem- 
bering their,  disappointment  the  day  before  "Yes,  we  do." 
"Then,"  said  he,  "There  is  no  need  of  my  talking."  And  again  he 
went  away.  The  next  day  he  came  as  before.  I  think  he  must 


The  Centennial  Celebration.  1*27 

have  had  some  such  people  as  these  of  the  poet  in  his  mind,  that 
could  look  forward  and  tell  something  about  what  was  to  be.  He 
said,  "Oh  ye  people,  do  ye  know  what  T  am  going  to  talk  to  you 
about."  And  they,  better  instructed,  answered,  "Some  of  us  know, 
and  some  of  us  do  not  know."  "Then,"  said  the  Dervis  "Let  those 
who  know  tell  those  who  do  not  know."  And  he  went  away — as  I 
do  now. 


^ —      — "^ 
ROM  the  large  number  of  congratulatory  letters 

which  were  received,  a  few  have  been  selected 
for  publication  as  being  of  general  interest  to 
those  who  will  read  the  published  proceedings. 

FROM  EDWARD  EVERETT  HALE,  D.  D. 

ROXBURY,  MASS.,  JUNE  15,  1892. 
MY  DEAR  MR.  HARVEY:— 

I  am  sorry  to  see  that  your  love-feast  has  passed.  I  meant  to 
write  a  historical  letter,  because  I  remember  Conant  perfectly 
well.  He  was  one  of  the  most  distinguished  missionaries  I  have 
ever  known. 

At  that  time  we  thought  the  Rock  River  country  was  the 
kingdom  of  heaven,  and  in  that  very  year  I  offered  my  services  to 
the  Unitarian  Association,  to  go  to  the  West  and  spend  my  life  as 
a  preacher,  if  they  would  advance  fifteen  dollars  for  my  expenses. 
The  board  met  and  considered  the  subject,  and  sent  me  word  that 
they  did  not  think  they  should  get  enough  for  their  money.  In 
this  they  were  undoubtedly  right.  I  did  not  go,  and  that  is  the 
reason  that  I  am  writing  you  here  now,  instead  of  writing  to  my 
friend  DeNormandie  the  account  of  the  success  of  the  fifty-year- 
celebration. 

When  I  received  your  letter,  I  did  not  even  hope  that  I  could 
myself  come  to  Geneva,  because  I  am  going  to  England  just  at  this 
time,  but  I  did  think  I  could  send  my  congratulations. 

Truly  yours. 

EDW.     .  HALE. 


Congratulatory  Letters. 

FROM  MARIE  L.  LAMB. 

546  GARPIELD  AVE.,  CHICAGO,  JUNE  2,  1892. 
MRS.  A.  O.  HOYT;  DEAR  MADAM: — 

Through  Miss  LeBar,on,  my  daughter  and  I  received  invita- 
tions to  be  present  at  the  celebration  of  the  fiftieth  anniversary  of 
the  Unitarian  Society  of  Geneva,  111. 

Be  assured  that  the  infirmities  of  seventy-seven  alone  compel 
me  to  extend  to  you, with  our  thanks, sincere  regrets  for  absence  on 
this  very  interesting  occasion. 

It  was  in  the  summer  of  1854  that  we,  with  our  pastor,  Rev. 
Rush  R.  Shippen,  picnicked  on  the  island,  I  think,  in  Fox  River. 
It  was  a  lovely  day  and  we  had  a  delightful  time.  I  thought  it  one 
of  the  prettiest  towns  I  was  ever  in. 

That  day  was  the  commencement  of  a  charming  acquaintance 
with  Rev.  and  Mrs.  Conant.  We  had  the  pleasure  of  enter- 
taining Mr.  Conant  several  times  when  he  exchanged  with  our 
pastors. 

I  several  times  visited  friends  in  Geneva,  whom  I  had  known 
from  childhood  in  Massachusetts,  and  the  cemetery  where  the  dear 
elder  friend  of  my  young  years  is  laid,  the  first  wife  of  Mr.  Wm. 
Chauncy  Wilder — a  Miss  Waters.  Mr.  Conant  told  me  she  had  the 
finest,  clearest  Unitarian  mind  he  had  ever  met;  it  was  a  feast  to 
converse  with  her. 

I  would  like  very  much  to  again  meet  Mr.  and  Miss  Eddowes. 
Will  you  please  give  my  compliments  and  address  to  them?  And 
Mrs.  Long  and  her  little  people;  I  want  to  see  them  so  much.  Oh, 
how  I  wish  I  could  once  again  enter  the  dear  old  church  and  list- 
en to  the  voice  of  prayer  and  song. 

Hoping  that  the  days  may  be  pleasant  and  your  celebration  a 
success  in  every  particular,  and  begging  you  to  excuse  the  garru- 
lous propensity  of  an  old  lady, 

I  remain  very  sincerely  yours, 

MARIE  L.  LAMB. 

FROM  THOMAS  MOULDING. 

CHICAGO,  ILL.,  JUNE  10,  1892. 
MRS.  A.  HOYT: — 

We  should  be  pleased  to  attend  the  fiftieth  anniversary  of  the 
organization  of  your  Church,  but  at  the  last  moment  find  that  the 
state  of  my  own  and  Mrs.  Moulding's  health  impels  us  to  leave  the 
city  to-morrow  for  Colorado.  We  have  very  pleasant  recollections 
of  the  little  Church;  my  father  and  family  found  a  genial  Church 
home  there  in  June,  1851,  he  had  been  a  Unitarian  for  over  twenty- 
five  years  at  that  time  and  found  in  Mr.  Conant  a  grand  good 
friend  and  delightful  preacher  and  our  whole  family  learned  to 


130  Congratulatory  Letters. 

love  him  dearly.     We  were  no  more  strangers  in  a  strange   land 
when  we  or  rather  they,  as  I  remained  in  Chicago,  reached  Geneva. 

Yours  respectfully, 

THOMAS  MOULDING. 

FROM  C.  A.  PHILLIPS. 

CHICAGO,  ILL.,  JUNE  7,  1892. 
MRS.  A.  O.  HOYT,  DEAR  MADAM: — 

I  regret  very  much  indeed  that  I  shall  not  be  able  to  avail 
myself  of  your  kind  invitation  to  attend  the  Celebration  of  the 
Fiftieth  Anniversary  of  the  organization  of  the  First  Unitarian 
Society  of  Geneva,  Illinois,  to  be  held  at  that  place  on  the  tenth , 
eleventh  and  twelfth  insts. 

I  have  delayed  answering  your  communication  in  the  hope 
that  matters  might  so  shape  themselves  as  to  enable  me  to  be  pres- 
ent and  to  meet,  once  more  at  least,  the  friends  and  relatives  whose 
ranks  are  becoming  year  by  year  more  thinned  as  one  by  one  they 
reach  the  end  of  that  road  "which  widens  and  brightens  as  it  leads 
to  heaven,"  and  are  called  to  face  the  great  mystery  whose  shad- 
ow is  ever  over  all  the  Children  of  Men.  Only  the  most  impera- 
tive reasons  could  have  kept  me  from  attending  the  Celebration, 
but  nothing  is  left  me  now  but  to  convey  to  you  and  through  you, 
my  warmest  regards  to  those  toiwhom  I  am  allied  by  blood  or  friend- 
ship and  whose  kind  faces  are  always  fresh  in  memory  when  I 
recall  the  scenes  of  the  four  happy  years  (from  1849  to  1853)  which 
I  spent  in  Geneva. 

Hoping  the  occasion  will  be  one  of  unalloyed  pleasure  and  de- 
light to  those  who  are  so  fortunate  as  to  be  able  to  participate,  I  re- 
main. 

Yours  very  sincerely, 

C.  A.  PHILLIPS. 

FROM  HON.  J.  C.  SHERWIN. 

DENVER,  COLORADO,  JUNE  9,  1892. 
DEAR  MRS.  HOYT: — 

I  have  just  returned  and  find  your  invitation  to  attend  the 
Fiftieth  Anniversary  of  the  organization  of  the  Unitarian  Society 
of  Geneva.  I  am  sorry  that  it  is  impossible  for  me  to  accept  that 
invitation  and  meet  the  friends,  old  and  new,  of  that  society. 

The  sunlight  of  June  does  not  glorify  a  more  interesting  spot 
to  me  than  that  old  church.  The  deep  shadows  of  its  surrounding 
maples  are  not  more  gratelul  to  the  children  who  play  under  them 
of  a  summer's  day,  than  are  the  precious  memories  that  have  their 
origin  within  the  sacred  walls  of  the  dear  old  church. 

What  blessings  have  flowed  from  it,  to  us  all! 

The  zeal  and  eloquence  of  Herbert,  the  joyous  Sunday  Schools, 


Congratulatory  Letters.  131 

the  kindly  social  gatherings,  the  haunting  recollections  of  loved 
ones  never  again  to  enter  its  precincts  in  bodily  form,  all  crowd 
upon  me  as  I  write. 

I  know  it  will  be  a  time  of  rare  pleasure  to  all  who  are  so  for- 
tunate as  to  attend.  I  will  be  with  them  in  thought. 

May  the  recollections  and  achievements  of  the  half-century 
now  closing  be  a  prophecy  and  sure  guarantee  that  the  next  fifty 
years  shall  even  surpass  them  in  all  good  work  for  the  glory  of 
God  and  the  uplifting  of  man. 

Sincerely  yours, 
J.  C.  SHERWIN  . 

FROM  COL.  JOHN  S.  WILCOX. 

ELGIN,  ILL.,  JUNE  6,  1892. 
MRS.  A.  O.  HOYT;  DEAR  MADAM:— 

As  I  think  of  your  little  church,  memory  recalls  so  many  forms 
and  faces  very  dear  in  boyhood  and  young  manhood,  thirty-five 
and  forty  years  ago,  Mr.  Conant,  the  pastor,  and  his  always  pleas- 
ant, cheerful  wife,  with  their  family,  the  Clark's — three  gener- 
ations, the  Pattens  (and  how  we  young  people  loved  Mrs.  Charles 
Patten, )  the  Wilsons  and  many  others.  It  is  very  pleasant  to 
recall  the  bright  memory  of  those  far  away  days.  It  is  sad  to  think 
of  so  many  friends  whose  greeting  shall  be  heard  no  more  on  earth. 
It  is  unmistakably  delightful  to  know  the  eternal  day  is  not  far 
away,  when  we  shall  see  and  know  yet  more  clearly  the  joys  of  a 
still  closer  friendship. 

I  sincarely  hope  the  occasion  will  be  helpful  and  pleasant  to 
every  one  present. 

Very  truly  yours, 

JOHN  S.  WILCOX. 

FROM  PAUL  R.  WRIGHT.        , 

SANTA  BARBARA,  CAL.,  JUNE  6, 1892. 
DEAR  BRO.  JOE: — 

Your  letter  of  May  30  relative  to  the  proposed  Celebration  of 
the  Fiftieth  Anniversary  of  the  organization  of  the  Geneva  Unita- 
rian Church  was  duly  received.  We  had  previously  received  cir- 
culars and  letters  of  similar  import  from  Mr.  Eddowes  and  Miss 
Fanny  LeBaron. 

I  regret  that  we  cannot  be  present  on  that  occasion  and  that 
we  can  furnish  nothing  that  will  contribute  materially  to  the  in- 
terest. Of  course,  as  you  suggest,  the  interest  of  the  Celebration 
will  mostly  center  around  the  memory  of  Mr.  Conant.  Kind  and 
heartfelt  words  of  eulogy  will  be  spoken,  because  they  are  deserv- 


132  Congratidatory  Letters. 

ed.  I  am  glad  to  believe  that  there  will  be  present  at  the  Celebra- 
tion many  of  the  old  time  friends  of  Mr.  Coiiant  who  can  use  more 
fitting  language  to  express  the  sentiments  which  all  his  friends 
cherish  for  his  memory,  than  I  ana  able  to  command.  My  acquaint- 
ance with  Mr.  Conant  commenced  about  the  time  when  he  was  do- 
ing some  missionary  work  and  endeavoring  to  establish  a  liberal 
Church  in  the  very  orthodox  town  of  Elgin,  but  I  did  not,  as  you 
seem  to  suppose,  have  any  active  part  in  the  movement.  I  was 
then  a  member  in  "good  and  regular  standing"  of  the  orthodox 
Congregational  Church,  although,  even  then,  I  had  drifted  a  long 
way  from  the  Calvinistic  creed  of  my  church,  and  attended  Mr.  Co- 
nant's  meetings  as  often  as  circumstances  permitted.  I  enjoyed 
his  preaching  greatly.  The  substance  of  his  discourses  was  far  in 
advance  of  the  average  sermon  I  had  listened  to  up  to  that  time. 

A  more  intimate  acquaintanca  with  him  helped  me  at  a  time 
when  I  needed  help.  Doubtless  many  persons  can  bear  the  same 
testimony.  What  higher  tribute  can  we  pay  to  the  memory  of  any 
man,  than  to  say  that  he  helped  those  with  whom  he  came  in  con- 
tact— helped  them  to  clearer  thoughts  and  better  lives!  Probably 
Mr.  Conant  never  knew  the  extent  of  the  help  he  conferred  upon 
the  world,  but  if  he  should  be  present  at  the  coming  Celebration, 
(and  who  knows  that  he  will  not  be?)  I  can  imagine  that  he  will 
hear  much  that  will  be  gratifying  to  him. 

I  have  a  warm  regard  for  other  members  of  this  little  Church 
with  whom  I  was  acquainted,  but  most  of  them  have  long  since  de- 
parted this  life. 

I  am  sure  you  will  have  an  enjoyable  time  at  the  coming  gath- 
ering, and  I  hope  it  will  be  a  successful  one  and  the  coming  of  the 
Year  of  Jubilee  for  the  Geneva  Church. 

Much  love  to  you  all, 

PAUL  R.  WRIGHT. 
To  Mr.  J.  D.  Harvey,  Geneva,  111. 


f  \N  Sunday,  June  12,  the  last  day  of  the  cele- 
I  I  bration,  teachers  and  pupils,  old  and  new, 
^^-S  gathered  in  the  church  to  listen  to  words 

from  those  who  associated  the  early  days  of  the  School 

with  their  own  youth  and  from  those  whose  later  memorie's 

are  connected  with  the  school's  progress. 

Besides  the  papers  which  are  published,  remarks  were 

made  by  Mrs.  Mary  P.  Jarvis  and  Miss  Jarvis  of  Cobden; 

by  Miss  Francis  LeBaron  of  Elgin  who  strove  to  impress 

the  children  with  the  significance  of  the  occasion ;  by  Rev. 

Thos.  P.  Byrnes  of  Humboldt,  Iowa  and  by  Mrs.  H.  A. 

Gould  of  Geneva.     Two  papers  are  here  presented  in  full 

as  follows: 

Historical  Chapter,  Rev.  T.  H.  Eddowes 

Sunday  School  Memories,      -  -      Mrs.  Ellen  E.  L.  Woodward 


BY  REV.    T.    H.    EDDOWES. 

YlILY  20,  1851,  Mr.  Conant  preached  his  tenth 
anniversary  sermon.  Referring  to  the  state 

,_, I  of  affairs  at  the  time  of  his  coming  in  1841 

he  says: 

"Elder  John  Walworth  had  been  preaching  a  part  of 
the  time  the  preceding  year;  the  Methodist  minister  in 
the  circuit  had  sometimes  preached  here,  but  for  want  of 
encouragement  had  abandoned  the  place;  there  had  been 
also  Episcopal  and  Presbyterian  and  Baptist  preaching, 
and  I  was  informed  that  there  had  been  as  many  as 
ten  unsuccessful  attempts  made  by  ministers  of  one  re- 
ligious denomination  or  another  to  sustain  worship  or 
establish  a  society  in  the  place.  The  moral  and  religious 
reputation  of  the  village  was  low;  intemperance,  profanity 
and  disregard  for  the  Sabbath  were  characteristic  of  Ge- 
neva in  184-1.  There  was  one  star  of  hope  in  this  night 
of  moral  darkness;  it  was  the  Geneva  Sunday  School. 

A  young  man  from  Cambridge  (Harvard)  University 
had  settled  in  the  place  and  engaged  in  the  legal  profes- 
sion. Seeing  the  exposed  moral  condition  of  the  children 
of  the  village,  he  engaged  the  assistance  of  a  few  friends 


Historical  Chapter.  135 

and  opened  a  Sunday  School.  Fearless  of  the  ridicule 
that  might  be  cast  upon  his  enterprise,  and  faithful  to  his 
high  convictions  of  duty,  from  Sabbath  to  Sabbath,  while 
no  society  existed  and  no  other  worship  was  held,  he 
gathered  his  little  company  of  children  together  to  impart 
to  them  ideas  of  God  and  Christ  and  eternal  life,  and  to 
endeavor  to  lead  them  into  the  paths  of  virtue  and  relig- 
ion. On  my  first  visit  to  Geneva  in  1840  I  found  him 
thus  employed,  but  before  my  return  from  Cambridge  and 
the  commencement  of  my  ministry  here  he  had  been 
called  by  the  providence  of  God  to  a  higher  sphere,  and 
his  Sunday  School  was  left  to  be  sustained  by  other  hearts 
and  hands.  His  dust  hallows  our  burial  ground,  and  the 
name  of  Caleb  A.  Buckingham  is  and  will  be  hallowed  in 
the  hearts  of  that  band  of  teachers  who  were  connected 
with  him.  *  The  Sunday  School 

and  the  efforts  put  forth  in  establishing  and  sustaining  it 
were  the  most  hopeful  appearances  of  moral  and  religious 
life  and  progress  in  the  place. 

For  my  own  encouragement,  and  as  an  indication  that  it 
might  be  my  appropriate  sphere  of  labor,  the  Sunday 
School  had  been  started  and  was  sustained  chiefly  by  those 
of  the  same  denominational  faith." 

This  extarct  with  one  reference  in  Mr.  Conant's  jour- 
nal under  date  of  Sept.  1,  1846,  where  he  says:  "Our 
Sunday  School  is  in  a  flourishing  condition — seventy  or 
eighty  connected  with  it,"  makes  all  the  history  of  the 
Sunday  School  we  have  previous  to  1868. 

No  better  place  will  occur  in  these  memoirs  to 
charge  the  present  and  coming  generation  in  the  Church 
with  the  importance  of  preserving  every  item  of  history 
connected  with  the  School.  I  find  that  it  would  be  of 
much  interest  to  note  who  among  the  earlier  settlers  were 
pupils  or  officers.  It  would  also  have  been  quite  worth 


136  Historical  Chapter. 

the  time  and  effort  to  have  had  a  catalogue  of  the  first 
library  and  copies  of  every  manual  used  in  the  school  as 
well  as  of  the  periodicals  taken  and  distributed  by  it. 

It  could  easily  be  shown  how  important  a  place  the 
School  has  filled  in  the  history  of  the  Church  if  we  only 
had  the  records  to  show  how  faithfully  its  work  has  been 
carried  on  through  all  the  various  ups  and  downs  of  the 
Society.  I  think  it  can  be  said  truthfully  that  it  has 
never  stopped  though  there  have  been  periods  of  suspen- 
sion of  its  activity  for  sufficient  reason.  We  should  have 
the  records  that  would  show  how  when  there  was  an  in- 
terval between  the  pastorates  the  School  has  been  the 
outlet  for  the  zeal  of  the  society  which  kept  the  church 
open  for  supplies,  (it  is  on  record  that  in  one  instance 
the  School  paid  for  preaching  out  of  its  treasury)  and  how 
when  it  seemed  that  the  school  must  be  given  up  if  we 
did  not  have  a  minister,  that  consideration  has  been  suffi- 
cient to  rouse  the  resolutions  that  we  would  have  a  minister. 

A  complete  record  would  also  have  shown  us  that  the 
zeal  which  supports  the  School  is  no  fitful  matter.  Al- 
lusion has  been  made  to  the  services  of  Miss  Carr.  Other 
names  could  be  given  of  those  who  have  given  their  en- 
thusiasm, their  culture,  their  wisdom,  their  time  and  their 
strengthen  that  long,  steady  way  that  counts  up  into  decadt  s 
and  scores  of  years  of  service,  but  all  the  records  stand 
below  that  of  Harriet  Patten  who  in  this  school  and  others 
was  a  teacher  for  fifty  years.  Mrs.  Mary  P.  Jarvis,  Mrs 
Robt.  Long,  Sr.,  Dr.  LeBaron  and  Mrs.  A.  H.  Conant  are 
names  that  stand  well  up  in  the  list.  Of  the  present 
teachers  and  officers,  ten  in  number,  six  have  served  the 
School  over  ten  years,  three  of  them  over  twenty  years. 
Another  name  to  be  gratefully  recorded  is  that  of  Mrs. 
Mary  J.  Whiting.  Mr.  Conant  makes  mention  in  one  of 
his  anniversary  sermons  of  the  great  interest  she  had  in 


Historical  Chapter.  137 

it,  the  work  she  did  in  it,  and  how  after  her  active  work 
was  ended  by  removal,  through  many  years  of  invalid- 
ism,  her  efforts  made  from  the  sick  room  resulted  in  pro- 
curing one  hundred  dollars  worth  of  books  for  the  library. 

In  1868,  a  Sunday  School  Society  was  formed  the 
object  of  which  was  to  provide  a  more  intimate  connec- 
tion between  the  Sunday  School  and  the  Church;  the 
officers  of  the  society  being  elected  from  the  Church  by  the 
School.  The  object  has  not  been  fully  attained  as  but 
few  of  these  officers  have  appreciated  the  field  for  useful- 
ness offered  them.  We  still  keep  up  the  annual  election 
however  in  the  hope  that  some  one  will  some  day  show 
what  an  honor  it  is  to  be  president  of  the  Sunday  School 
Society.  Ours  was  the  first  School  to  introduce  the 
observance  of  Children's  Day  or,  as  it-  is  less  happily 
though  more  popularly  styled,  Flower  Sunday. 

My  chief  concern  on  taking  charge  of  the  School  as 
Superintendent  in  1865  was  the  library.  It  has  been  an 
object  of  special  care  ever  since  that  time.  In  the  ab- 
sence of  any  public  library  I  am  confident  that  it  has  been 
the  means  of  establishing  a  taste  for  first-class  fiction  in 
a  large  number  who  would  not  otherwise  have  come  in 
contact  with  any  but  the  lower  grade;  not  that  our 
library  is  confined  to  fiction  but  it  necssarily  predominates 
in  providing  reading  for  as  young  a  class  as  attend  our 
Sunday  School. 

Somewhere  in  the  seventies  during  the  prosperity  of 
Mr.  Herbert's  pastorate  we  reached  the  dignity  of  a 
printed  catalogue  of  the  library.  The  attendance  in  that 
day  was  so  large  that  it  was  a  necessity  in  facilitating  the 
distribution  of  the  books.  It  showed  that  we  had  be- 
tween five  and  six  hundred  volumes.  We  have  kept  the 
number  about  the  same  since  that  time  by  the  removal  of 
worn  out  or  uncalled  for  books,  as  we  have  replenished 


138  Historical  Chapter. 

from  time  to  time.  One  of  these  replenishments,  it  is 
pleasant  to  note,  came  in  the  form  of  a  donation  from 
Unity  Church  of  Chicago,  as  an  acknowledgement  of  the 
services  of  the  School  in  responding  to  the  calls  of  that 
Church  for  flowers  at  various  times  for  their  special  ser- 
vices. It  is  equally  pleasant  to  record  that  one  of  our 
visitors  at  the  semi-centennial  celebration  left  us  a  dona- 
tion of  ten  dollars  for  the  library,  five  dollars  of  which 
was  given  in  memory  of  Mrs.  Patten's  work. 


BY  MRS.    ELLEN  E.    L.    WOODWARD  OF  CHICAGO. 

V" — "•— ' -*""s 

DO  not    remember  ever    to  have    heard    of  Rip 

Van  Winkle  appearing  in  a  bonnet  and  gown, 
A»  rubbing  the  mists  of  years  out  of  dim  and  faded 
eyes  and  endeavoring  to  understand  and  reconcile  past 
memories  with  present  conditions;  how  it  is  that  faces 
that  .were  young  and  joyous  thirty  years  a-gone  have  ha- 
loes of  white  hair  about  them.  Other  faces  which  looked 
up  with  the  sweet,  trusting  eyes  of  childhood,  stand  bow- 
ed with  my  own,  and  more  than  this,  they  say:  "This  is 
my  daughter,"  or  "This  is  my  boy,"  and  behold,  comely 
maidens  and  manly  youths  are  standing  beside  them 
eagerly  waiting  to  take  up  and  carry  on  the  work  of  life. 
Other  faces  come  and  go,  flitting  in  and  out  among  you 
all,  and  one  close  at  hand  is  a  fair  young  daughter  of 
New  England.  Full  of  the  enthusiasm  of  her  years  she 
goes  about  the  Master's  business.  A  little  while  and  the 
dear  eyes  will  be  closed  and  the  pale  hands  rested  from 
their  labor.  The  first  young  teacher  had  been  promoted 
to  the  highest  place — there  to  dwell  in  the  light  of  the 
great  white  throne  forever  and  forever.  One  after  anoth- 


Sunday  School  Memories. 

er  have  followed  until  the  number  in  the  yon  quiet  haven 
out-numbers  those  who  wait  a  little  longer. 

It  is  a  bewildering  thing  to  do,  to  wake  and  find 
one's  self  here,  for  the  place  is  haunted,  is  full,  is  crowded 
with  the  unseen,  subtle  yet  still  vivifying  presence  of 
those  whose  hearts  were  wrought  into  the  very  stones  and 
mortar  of  the  building.  We  heard  yesterday  much  of 
their  patient,  earnest  work  through  times  of  sunshine  and 
of  shadow,  but  the  chief  glory  of  the  Church  has  not  been 
reached,  has  been  saved  as.  we  save  choice  bits  for  the 
last — the  Sunday  School!  The  Sunday  School  which,  no 
matter  what  the  vicissitudes  of  the  Church,  has  gone  stead- 
ily on  with  the  most  important  aim  in  life  accomplished — 
the  religious  education  of  the  young.  It  has  had  faith  in 
itself,  in  its  members,  and  to-day,  after  half  a  century  has 
passed,  it  can  look  upon  garnered  sheaves,  and  say  with 
reighteous  pride,  "Of  all  who  have  entered  here  starce 
none  but  have  illustrated  in  most  honorable  upright  lives 
the  teachings  received  in  this  venerable  building."  Per- 
haps the  storms  and  strife  of  the  world  may  have  been 
more  than  some  could  stand  against;  they  are  rare  who  at 
some  point  on  the  weary  way  do  not  stumble,  perhaps  fall, 
and  are  bruised  with  cruel  hurts,  and  sorrowful  suffering 
comes  to  all;  but  at  eve  the  Father  leads  his  tired  chil- 
dren home,  and  tenderly  shields  them  in  his  fold. 

In  the  main  the  beautiful  faith  we  profess  has  demon- 
strated its  truth  in  the  lives  of  its  children  as  the  years  go 
on  and  on. 

I  think  1  am  not  mistaken  when  I  say  as  a  "substance 
of  doctrine"  taught  by  this  Sunday  School,  that  we  be- 
lieve that  as  the  majestic  oak  is  contained  in  embryo  in 
the  tiny  acorn,  so  the  powers  of  an  angel  are  wrapped  up 
in  the  little  child.  His  mind  says  one  "not  you,  nor  1  nor  an 
angel  can  comprehend. "  We  have  aimed  to  do  this  child's 


Sunday  School  Memories. 

mind  simple  justice,  having  faith  in  it,  and  most  especial- 
ly as  fitted  for  religion,  not  that  we  consider  it  virtuous 
and  holy  at  birth,  for  these  qualities  cannot  be  born  with 
us,  they  are  the  free,  voluntary  effort  of  a  being  who 
knows  the  distinction  between  right  and  wrong  and  who, 
when  tempted,  adheres  to  the  right.  We  have  faith  in  the 
child  as  capable  of  knowing  and  loving  the  good  and  the 
true;  as  having  a  conscience  to  take  the  side  of  duty;  as 
open  to  motives  for  welldoing;  as  formed  for  knowledge, 
wisdom,  piety  and  heavenly  love. 

Believing  thus,  and  knowing  the  world  will  do  its 
duty  by  the  little  one,  knowing  it  will  teach  it  all  evil  pas- 
sions without  check  or  guide,  passions  given  for  good  and 
wise  ends  when  rightly  guided  and  disciplined — necessary 
ingredients  of  character — ,  but  it  is  no  part  of  the  world's 
duty  to  furnish  the  needed  counterpoise,  balance  wheels 
that  will  keep  all  these  passions  under  proper  subjection; 
to  furnish  the  bridle  which  will  guide  them  in  the  right 
course  and  restrain  them  when  of  undue  speed.  Neither 
is  it  any  part  of  its  duty  to  still  further  develop,  nourish 
and  strengthen  those  higher  moral  and  religious  feelings 
and  obligations  which  should  sit  on  the  throne  of  man's 
mind  and  preside  over  the  whole  character,  the  whole  man. 
The  great  end  of  this  life  is  the  foundation  of  character 
which  shall  be  fitted  for  the  life  that  is  to  come.  To  ac- 
complish this  has  been  the  aim  and  object  of  this  School; 
to  do  what  it  could  to  render  justice  to  the  powers  and 
faculties  of  the  child's  mind  and,  so  far  as  may  be,  to 
supply  defects  in  the  education  the  world  gives  it,  in  a 
word,  to  awaken  moral  and  spiritual  life  in  the  child,  and 
great  moral  and  religious  truths  are  nearer  to  a  child  than 
the  principles  of  natural  science.  The  germs  are  in  his  soul. 
All  the  elementary  ideas  of  God  and  duty  and  love  come  to 
him  from  his  own  spiritual  powers  and  affections.  Moral 


142  ^Sunday  School  Memories. 

good  and  evil,  virtue  and  vice  are  revealed  to  him  in  his 
own  motives  of  action  and  in  the  motives  of  those  around 
him.  Religion  carries  its  own  evidence  with  it,  more 
than  history  or  science  and  it  should  rest  more  on  the 
soul's  own  consciousness,  experience  and  observation. 

That  this  school  has  been  potential  in  awakening 
clear,  affectionate  perception  of  the  reality,  truth  and 
greatness  of  religion  is  amply  illustrated  in  the  lives  of  its 
children  now  to  the  fore,  and  who  to-day  with  loving 
tenderness  commemorate  with  grateful  hearts  the  close  of 
its  first  half -century  and  with  brightest  hope  look  forward 
at  the  beginning  of  the  second. 


©he 


S  the  time  drew  near  for  the  semi-centennial 
it  seemed  to  some  of  the  oldest 
members  of  the  society  and  some 
who  had  grown  up  within  the  walls  of  the  church  that,  as 
golden  weddings  are  usually  the  occasion  for  the  present- 
ing of  valuable  gifts  to  the  bride  and  groom  from  the 
younger  members  of  the  family,  so  it  was  right  and  prop- 
er that  some  substantial  gift  from  the  children  of  the 
society,  now  scattered  over  the  land,  should  be  presented 
to  the  Church  at  this  time,  and  a  parsonage  was  pre- 
eminently the  most  desirable  gift. 

Accordingly  Messrs.  B.  W.  Dodson,  T.  H.  Ed- 
dowes  and  Miss  Frances  LeBaron  constituted  themselves 
a  committee  to  look  the  field  over,  correspond  with  the 
children  of  the  Church  and  ascertain  their  wishes.  The 
results  were  most  encouraging  and  cheering  words  and 
generous  donations  came  from  many  friends. 

The  next  appeal  was  made  to  friends  of  the  Church 
who  had  never  been  members  and  to  the  Chicago  and 
other  societies.  Here  again  most  encouraging  sympathy 


14.6  The  Parsonage. 

and  generosity  was  found  and  strong  expressions  of  ap- 
preciation of  the  bravery  and  faithfulness  of  the  little 
Geneva  band  were  received. 

The  home  society  has  done  well  and  old  and  young 
are  giving  of  their  small  store.  With  the  amount  in 
hand,  Robert  Long,  Architect  and  Builder  and  a  member 
of  the  society,  under  guidance  of  the  building  committee 
appointed  by  the  society  and  the  original  committee,  is 
erecting  on  the  lot  south  of  the  church,  between  two  rows 
of  beautiful  maples,  a  tasteful,  convenient,  eight-room 
cottage,  in  modern  style. 

One  item  of  unusual  expense  in  this  particular  cot- 
tage is  the  room  to  be  used  as  a  library  and  pastor's  study 
and  which  will  be  fitted  up  accordingly.  Here  will  be 
collected  valuable  books  from  the  libraries  of  the  early 
pastors,  and  modern  books  from  various  sources  for  a  per- 
manent, minister's  library.  This  convenient  home  and 
valuable  library  will  ever  be  attractive  to  the  future  min- 
isters and  go  far  towards  making  them  contented  with  the 
small  salary  the  present  society  is  able  to  pay. 

The  key  that  has  unlocked  the  purses  of  the  donors 
to  this  parsonage  fund  is  "In  Memoriam. "  All  have 
given  gladly  in  loving  remembrance  of  their  parents,  of 
the  pastors  of  their  youth,  of  the  friends  who  had  lived 
here  and  borne  this  Church  upon  their  shoulders  and  of 
happy  days  spent  here  with  this  pioneer  band  in  the  olden 
time.  The  society  may  well  feel  that  the  spirits  of  those 
who  have  gone,  though  silent,  are  still  present  with  living 
influence. 


UNIVERSITY  OF  ILLINOIS-URBANA 


